Maxis Bhd’s (Maxis) network expansion plans in Sarawak is an ongoing development, as it currently covers 89 per cent of the population with its 4G network.
According to head of Sarawak region Alexius Bong, at this point in time, Maxis has no intentions to stop and will continue to expand “even to the smallest towns.”
“Because you can’t hide the fact that people are consuming more data and you need that network to support (demand), it is definitely a focus in our plan to do that,” he revealed in an exclusive interview with The Borneo Post earlier this week.
On plans to open more retail outlets in Sarawak, Bong stressed that Maxis is very focused on retail expansion and distribution footprint. It currently has nine Maxis centres and 15 dealer-operated retail stores in the state.
“By this year end, we intend to add six more retail stores plus another 20 dealer-operated stores at the same time to increase our distribution footprint, it goes in tandem with our network,” he added.
These plans will occur throughout Sarawak, with the focus now on secondary towns. Maxis also intends for customers to have the same experience whether they are visiting Maxis centres or dealer-operated outlets.
Continuous network expansion will be one of the key areas Maxis focuses on in Sarawak this year.
“We want to continue expanding our network, we have such a great product that syncs together with this,” Bong added.
“At any one time, the focus of the network is not just the network itself – it ties back to the consumer.
“With that, we want to ensure that whether it is prepaid, postpaid, or wireless broadband (WBB), we will continue to enhance our product proposition especially on internet offerings.
“Of course, we will continue to expand our distribution and retail because market presence is significant in our business and is very important.”
At the same time, Maxis would also like to relook at the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia and, how they can help SMEs digitalise the way they work.
Head of prepaid, Navin Manian, highlighted that Maxis is also trying to give a much better experience by going purely digital for its customers.
“It’s not just all product-centric, we also look into the customer experience,” Navin said.
“So it’s a big drive now, for both postpaid and prepaid segments to move our customers from the old UMB usage behaviour to now the app and we have been doing very good in that space.”
On the expected takeup rate for the prepaid segment in East Malaysia, Navin revealed that Maxis has been doing really well in the region over the past few years from a series of products that they have been launching.
“We are very confident that this will continue a good growth trajectory for us here,” he added.