Malaysia’s mobile market has seen a new entrant in the form of Salamfone, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s Reach Telecom.
Salamfone is an MVNO offering pre-paid services using the Maxis network. The company is being touted as the world’s first MVNO whose operations are compliant with the Islamic Shariah law. The firm’s target markets are Malaysian Muslims and Muslim visitors from the Middle East to Malaysia.
According to Salamfone, the company has in a place a series of practices and services that are Shariah-compliant. These include regular donations to charities; a dedicated helpline to answer questions on Islam, free subscription to a religious text message service and Islamic ringtones.
Discounts will also be offered on days considered auspicious according to Islam.
Salamfone CEO Kamshul Kasim said the mobile service will be initially marketed in the states of Kedah, Perlis, Terengganu and Kelantan due to the states' high concentration of Muslims.
Fellow Reach subsidiary Baraka Telecom, which launched an MVNE hub in the country last month, is one of the partners that helped Salamfone with its launch.