Malaysia's DiGi has launched LTE services for smartphones, and revealed it has allocated up to 900 million ringgit ($276.2 million) for its capex budget this year.
The operator - which launched LTE for broadband and tablet plans in July last year - has now launched four bundled smartphone plans with LTE connectivity.
The plans start at 50 ringgit per month with 2GB of data, 200 free SMS calls and a call rate of 0.15 ringgit per minute.
Malaysian Digest notes that the plans are pretty competitive compared to rival offerings on the market.
The plans also offer unlimited surfing via mobile browser Opera Mini, and in line with the trend of operators pursuing partnerships with OTT providers, unlimited messaging over Whatsapp. More expensive plans offer other incentives including unlimited music streaming over Deezer.
DiGi chief marketing officer Christian Thrane told the Malaysian Digest that the operator plans to extend its LTE plans to prepaid subscribers some time in the future. But the company does not yet have a timeframe for doing so.
The operator's COO, Albern Murthy, separately told local media that the company plans to spend up to 900 million ringgit this year on boosting mobile coverage and expanding its fiber network.
With the investment, the company aims to extend 3G to 86% of the population and expand its LTE network to 1,500 sites, The Star Online reported.
The company is banking on mobile data to make up for stalling subscriber growth in a saturated market, and aims to increase its revenue for FY14 by around 4-6%.