CTM unaffected by MTEL competition

Since December, Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM) has had to accommodate competition with its fixed-line telecommunications services as MTEL Telecommunication Company Ltd.
entered the market. However, so far the company is not yet feeling the effects of the new player.
“We did not see any main effect”, the Vice-President of Commercial, Ebel Cham, told reporters, on the sidelines of the event to launch the new 1 Gigabyte fibre broadband service, when asked about the rival company. “We welcome competition, but we are focused on our products and on increasing the quality we are offering to our clients”, she said.
The launch of this new service by CTM is part of the celebrations of the company’s 20th anniversary of its Internet services, which started in 1995. In addition to the new fibre plan, the Macau company announced that it will double the number of existing Wi-Fi hotspots from 500 to 1,000 by the end of the year.
Since the introduction of fibre to the home Internet service in 2010, CTM has been keen on expanding the number of Macau clients using fibre broadband. Yesterday, Ebel Cham revealed that 27 per cent of the company’s customers are using fibre broadband, which represents roughly 38,000 customers. However, for 2015 the goal of the company is to achieve a 100 per cent penetration of fibre to the home Internet service.
Negotiations with Transmac
CTM was selected by the government as one of the operators that will offer 4G services in the territory. By the end of the year, the company is expected to have its 4G network covering 50 per cent of the territory.
“We are working to make sure that we will meet the coverage required by the government. However, at this point we do not have a schedule”, the Vice-President of Commercial said when asked about the launch of the 4G services by the company.
During the press conference Ebel Cham also said that CTM is in talks with the bus company Transmac – Transportes Urbanos de Macau, SARL – to introduce Wi-Fi hotspots in the buses.
“We have a strategic agreement to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots in Transmac buses but this will depend on the launch of 4G service. After introducing the 4G service in Macau we will work to bring Internet to the buses”, she said.
During the event, Ebel Cham also explained the cost of roaming services, which are considered high by some users. In her opinion, the trend in the future is for these services to become cheaper.
“Often the cost of roaming is related to the destination of the call.
However, we believe in the future that as more tourists come to Macau and also because the general trend worldwide is for roaming tariffs to go down that it will become cheaper”, she said.
CTM also announced yesterday a company charity programme, which will provide free fibre Internet plans to 200 students for 24 months.
J.S.F.