State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom said it aims to increase the number of subscribers to its fixed wireless telephone service by three million to 7.1 million by the end of this year. PT Telkom CEO Nyoman GW said currently the service, called "Flexi," has 4.1 million subscribers and with the addition of three million subscribers, the CDMA-based Flexi will become the main player in the country's telecommunication industry. Nyoman said he is optimistic the target would be achieved as Flexi has expanded and will continue to expand its coverage. Full article Telecom Asia

Indonesia's third largest cellphone operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama said it will invest $85 million this year to expand its service to corporate subscribers. This year the company targets to add 660 new corporate subscribers bringing the total number to 1,260.

DIGI Telecommunications Sdn Bhd has launched its DiGi Postpaid Flexi e-load scheme, which is aimed at enabling its customers to pay their monthly postpaid bills with ease. To use the service, DiGi postpaid customers need only bring their bills to any DiGi dealer displaying the Flexi e-load sign anywhere in the country.

THE Multimedia Development Corp (MDC) plans to focus on three key strategies to grow the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) into a global information and communications technology (ICT) hub by 2010. “To achieve our objective, the MDC will review incentives (the Bill of Guarantees) to encourage ICT and research and development and attract greater multinational corporations presence,” said MDC’s new CEO, Badlisham Ghazali.

Two men were charged in Singapore with distributing illegal digital music files on the Internet, including songs by popular international, Indonesian and Malaysian artists. Mohd Faizal Osman, 21, and Mohamad Azry Zainol, 22, allegedly put hundreds of songs on a popular relay channel for others to download since 2002, according to The Straits Times.

Big overseas telecom operators are showing an interest in exploring the Thai market, according to Sudharma Yoonaidharma of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), The Nation reports. Sudharma said recently that among these were O2 and BT, both British-based, Vodafone and DoCoMo.

Thailand's mobile phone sector is likely to enter a new growth cycle this year after facing three years of sluggish expansion due to overheated competition, major operators said. But the tariff price war, particularly in the prepaid segment, appears set to drag on as operators use matching-rate promotions to keep their customer bases, a Bangkok Post report said.

Indonesia is preparing a draft regulation covering landing rights for foreign communications satellites offering service in the country. In March last year, Malaysian satellite TV operator, Astro, reached a cooperation agreement with the Lippo Group, which owns the Kabel Vision, to provide satellite TV service in Indonesia.

Asian governments attempting to control the free flow of information face a struggle as their citizens increasingly turn to the Internet for alternative views. As Internet penetration rates surge across Asia, governments, including those in China and Vietnam, are finding it harder to deal with political challenges arising from the availability of information through the Web, the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kompakar Inc Bhd, an integrated ICT solutions provider, has won a RM1.15 million deal with Beijing Plastic Surgery Hospital - the group’s first total hospital information systems (eTHIS) reference site in China. Under the agreement, Kompakar will implement eTHIS for Beijing Plastic Surgery Hospital.

AONE Plus Supplies & Services Sdn Bhd has announced the availability of @SMS, a locally-developed short message service (SMS) gateway system. The system is aimed at companies in Malaysia that need a turnkey solution for mobile services.

Malaysian mobile giant Maxis, in partnership with the Chennai-based Apollo Group, will acquire a 100% stake in Aircel for $1.08 billion. Of the total investment, $280 million will be injected into the Tamil Nadu-based mobile operators company as cash.

Thailand's government hopes that 50% more people will have access to the Internet in 2006 because of plans to increase bandwidth and deliver more computers to schools, a report said. The Information and Communications Technology Ministry predicted that the number of people with Internet access will increase from 12 million to 18 million, the official Thailand News Agency said.

The Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia, Pikom, has forecast that the information and communications technology (ICT) industry will grow about 12% next year compared with 10% in 2005. According to Digital Planet, a publication of the World IT and Services Alliance (WITSA), Malaysia’s total ICT spending reached RM31.92 billion in 2005. Pikom is a member of WITSA.

Full article The Edge Daily

The mobile applications market has become more colourful with each passing year. So far, gaming applications have proved to be one of the most popular, with the International Data Corp predicting that the mobile gaming market in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) will rise to US$3 billion in 2009 from US$868 million this year. So, what's next after mobile gaming? Take a bet? Yes, you guessed it: Mobile gambling. Every one of us is, to a certain degree, a punter.

Full article Channel News Asia

In a move to connect with their technology-savvy consti- tuents, Members of Parliament are increasingly plugging into the Internet and taking to "blogging". Many have begun to realise that they can engage a wider and younger audience by riding the Internet wave, because younger Malaysians are comfortable online.They are finding that web logs or blogs are an effective way of making known their stand and feelings on issues and ideas.

Eurofine Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a film and TV production company, through its subsidiary Network Guidance Sdn Bhd, has launched the country's third pay television network, Fine TV, featuring 18 channels with 2,870 programmes. Network Guidance president Ida Rahayu Mohd Noor said Fine TV now has 1,000 customers and hoped to increase that to 10,000 by end-2006.

SOFTWARE development company Xynaxcom Sdn Bhd expects to initially spend some RM100,000 to deliver a content platform for a fashion portal to stream over Internet Protocol (IP) and a mobile TV over the third-generation (3G) network. Managing director Chung Tack Soon said he is confident that Malaysia’s first-ever mobile fashion TV will receive favourable response not just from female but male viewers as well.

SINGAPORE: Hard disk drive maker Seagate Technology’s US$1.9 billion purchase of smaller rival Maxtor Corp will shrink its supply chain, with Singapore firms that provide electronic parts to Maxtor likely to be the hardest hit, analysts said. Fears that Seagate would drop Maxtor suppliers Jurong Technologies Industrial Corp and Brilliant Manufacturing Ltd sent their shares tumbling as much as 12% and 9.5% respectively today. Companies that supply parts to Seagate saw their share prices rise, however, with MMI Holdings Ltd gaining as much as 5.6% and Seksun Corp up as much as 6.7% in morning trade. Analysts said the financial impact would probably only be felt by suppliers after the deal had closed in the second half of 2006, as Seagate and Maxtor would operate separately until then. Full article Business Times

XYBASE Sdn Bhd is bidding for US$1bil worth of management solutions projects in six airports around the world, said president Suhaimee Abu Hassan. The airports were in Doha, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Hyderabad, he told reporters at a signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, witnessed by Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha.