SK Telecom has invested 50 million ringgit ($16.5 million) in Malaysian Wimax provider P1 to bring its total investment in the firm to around $116.5 million.
South Korea’s largest mobile operator had put $100 million into P1 mid last year, and the additional investment will give SK Telecom a 25.8% share in P1, making it the second-largest stakeholder in P1 after equipment vendor GreenPacket, which holds a 57.1% stake.
A release from SK Telecom said the company had faith in the growth potential of Malaysia’s broadband market. Around 18% of Malaysia’s market now has access to broadband services, and this figure is expected to hit 36% by 2020, the release said.
P1 now has around 300,000 subscribers and aims to secure 1 million subscribers by 2013.
The Malaysian company last month claimed to be the first operator to demonstrate the ability for Wimax and TD-LTE to operate on the same network, using the same base stations; P1 CEO Michael Lai said last month that the company intends to launch a TD-LTE trialby year-end, with a view to start commercial services soon after.