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Maxis Partners Malaysia Airlines & AeroMobile For In-flight Mobile Communications
Kuala Lumpur, 5 March 2009 – Malaysia’s leading mobile operator, Maxis Communications Berhad (“Maxis”) today announced its partnership with Malaysia Airlines, and the world’s leading in-flight mobile phone operator, AeroMobile. With this partnership, Maxis postpaid customers may now safely use their mobile phones and BlackBerry®-type devices to enjoy in-flight mobile communications while flying on Malaysia Airlines aircraft, which are equipped with the AeroMobile system. Maxis mobile communications services available include voice calls, SMS, email and GPRS services. Matthew Willsher, Maxis Chief Marketing Officer, said, “Maxis is pleased to be in an alliance with the best in the aviation industry. We want to deliver the latest and most innovative services to our customers to further enrich their communications experience. With this partnership, Maxis postpaid subscribers will be able to use their mobile devices to perform essential communications while traveling on Malaysia Airlines flights. The ultimate aim of this partnership is for Maxis, Malaysia Airlines and AeroMobile – all leaders in their respective industries – to leverage on each other’s strengths to bring more value to our customers.” Maxis postpaid customers will also be able to make and receive voice calls at RM15 per minute; or send or receive data at RM100 per MB. SMSes sent are charged at RM3 per SMS. Receiving SMSes is free of charge. These rates are comparable to rates charged globally for this service. Maxis anticipates that as the service develops, rates will progressively decrease. Maxis postpaid customers will be billed on their regular monthly phone bills as with any other international roaming call. Current AeroMobile usage patterns on Malaysia Airlines indicate that there is a preference for texting and data usage among frequent travelers and business travelers. So, as an introductory promotion, Maxis is offering SMS at RM2 per SMS from now until 15 April. Currently, AeroMobile services are available on one Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which serves flights covering selected European routes, Australia, and across the Asian region, including China and Japan. Passengers wanting to use the service during the flight will be provided with a list of guidelines, including a request for them to switch their phones to silent mode during the flight, so as to not inconvenience other passengers. The Malaysia Airlines cabin crew are also trained to guide and clarify to passengers on the need to be mindful of other passengers’ preferences at certain times, such as during night flights. “Malaysia Airlines will continuously invest in technology while looking at innovative ways to enhance our products and services to meet the global demands and expectations of customers,” said Malaysia Airlines’ Commercial Director Dato’ Rashid Khan. “We are delighted to be strategically aligned with Maxis and AeroMobile in offering the latest passenger communications technology onboard our aircraft. This is one of the inflight service comforts that we are introducing on a trial basis for our customers as a Five Star Value Carrier and we expect these new capabilities to further enhance the high-quality customer service that our passengers have come to expect from Malaysia Airlines,” he said. AeroMobile Chief Executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said, “With over three months successful in- service experience now behind us we look forward to maximising passenger value with Maxis. Clear passenger demand exists in Asia for in-flight mobile services, we are proud to be associated with Malaysia Airlines, Asia’s first airline to offer in-flight mobile services.” For more information, please visit www.maxis.com.my - End -
About Maxis Communications Berhad The Maxis Group currently operates in three key Asian markets – Malaysia, India
and Indonesia – with a 5,000 strong workforce collectively serving over 30 million
customers and offering a comprehensive range of communications services, including
mobile and fixed line telecommunications, value-added data and content services,
wireless and fixed line broadband services and international gateway services.
In Malaysia, Maxis Communications Berhad (“Maxis”) is the country’s premier mobile telecommunications operator, with the lead in postpaid and prepaid (Hotlink) subscriber base. The Maxis Group operates in India through subsidiary Aircel Limited and in Indonesia through PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler. Since it began operations in 1995, Maxis has won numerous awards. Recently, the company was recognised as “Malaysian Mobile Operator of the Year” by Asian Mobile News at the 2008 Asian Mobile News Awards and “Malaysia’s Service Provider of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan at the 2008 Malaysia Telecoms Awards, due to its clear demonstration of leadership in business performance, brand value, sustained service excellence, network quality and product innovation. For more information, please visit www.maxis.com.my About Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines (www.malaysiaairlines.com), the national carrier of Malaysia and one of Asia's largest, flies nearly 50,000 passengers daily to some 100 destinations worldwide across 6 continents. It holds a lengthy record of service and best practices excellence, having received more than 100 awards in the last 12 years. Among the notable ones include being the first airline to win the "World's Best Cabin Crew" by Skytrax, UK consecutively from 2001 till 2004, and again in 2007. It is also one of only 6 airlines worldwide to be accredited a “5-Star Airline” by Skytrax, an accomplishment it has achieved for 3 consecutive years, 2006-2008. Malaysia Airlines has established a strong reputation in the aviation industry for service and safety. It is accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) for its operational safety practices. About AeroMobile AeroMobile Limited is a UK-based company owned by ARINC Inc and Telenor ASA.
It has been pursuing the objective of allowing the safe use of passengers own
mobile phones and PDAs since 2003 in response to market demands.
AeroMobile has announced customer commitments from Emirates, Qantas, Saudi Arabian
Airlines and V Australia.
In September 2008, AeroMobile won the “Best Achievement in Technology 2008” award
from the World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA).
Prior to the launch of the Emirates service, in April 2008, mobile phone use
in aircraft has only been allowed in limited, short-term trials which did not
support voice calls.
AeroMobile was the first in-flight mobile technology to be commercially available
and first flew in June 2005 on Boeing’s 777-200LR ‘Worldliner’ demonstrator aircraft.
In April 2007, AeroMobile implemented a trial service on domestic flights within
Australia. This evaluation project, supporting GSM text messaging and GPRS data
services, continued until January 2008 having operated on over 1,000 flights.
AeroMobile is teamed with Panasonic Avionics Corporation, the Panasonic’s market-leading
in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems provider, to offer the AeroMobile aircraft
technology under the eXPhone brand as an integral part of Panasonic’s IFE systems.
The AeroMobile system uses the existing Inmarsat satellite commmunications systems
installed on all Emirates aircraft. These systems will be upgraded at the earliest
opportunity to Inmarsat's latest SwiftBroadband service providing further features
and capabilities such as GPRS mobile data services
More information may be found at www.aeromobile.net
Maxis Communications Berhad
Malaysia Airlines
AeroMobile:
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