Syed Mokhtar’s company wins bid for digital television broadcast service

As widely expected, the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today announced its decision to pick Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd (PSSB) to operate the digital television broadcast service.

In a statement, the MCMC said PSSB won the bid to build, operate and manage the infrastructure for Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcast (DTTB) service in Malaysia.

PSSB is owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, and is one of eight companies with LTE 2600MHz spectrum awarded by the MCMC to provide 4G services.

The DTTB infrastructure will enable Free-To-Air (FTA) broadcasters to air more television and radio channels, besides providing additional services such as electronic programme guides.

MCMC strategic communications senior director Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman said analogue broadcasting will be discontinued once the full digital platform has been rolled out.

"The latest technology standard will enable wider coverage and the airing of more high definition channels," he said in a statement today.

Sheikh Raffie said 66 companies including system integrators, equipment suppliers and telecommunication players purchased the tender documents.

"Eight companies submitted their proposals in the form of business plans after the tender closing date in July last year."

"After evaluating the business plans, three companies were shortlisted for the final round of evaluation," Sheikh Raffie said.

The three companies were i-Media Broadcasting Solutions Sdn Bhd, Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd and Redtone Network Sdn Bhd.

"The final round of evaluation was conducted by experts from various professional backgrounds in MCMC from June to October 2013.

"A market assessment and internal benchmarking was also conducted to validate the proposals by the final three companies.

"PSSB will develop the DTTB infrastructure, which includes a network of digital TV transmitters that can produce 45 standard definition (SD) or 15 high definition (HD) digital television channels.

"Initially, the migration to digital will be for the current government-owned and private stations namely TV1, TV2, TV3, ntv7, 8TV, TV9, TV Alhijrah and Bernama TV," Sheikh Raffie said.

FTA broadcasting currently covers 98% of populated areas in Malaysia and is enjoyed by 47% of households while the rest of the population watches TV via satellite and internet platforms.

In order to watch FTA digital terrestrial broadcasting, viewers need to purchase a set-top box or purchase an integrated digital television (IDTV) that comes complete with a built-in set-top box.

The first roll-out of DTTB services is expected to be in the third quarter (Q3) of 2014, for a start in a few test areas.