U Mobile will be terminating its network sharing agreement with Maxis in stages by the end of 2018.

This comes after U Mobile had sent a letter to terminate the Network Sharing and Alliance Agreement (NSA) it signed with Maxis in 2011. No reason was given for the termination, and was only made public after Maxis released a filing to Bursa Malaysia earlier today.

The NSA was signed by both parties in 2011 when U Mobile was first launched. It allowed U Mobile customers to ride on Maxis’ 3G network nationwide, as well as 4G networks when the technology was deployed. The agreement was seen as beneficial to both telcos, with cost-saving benefits as well as accelerated network deployment for U Mobile.

The multi-billion Ringgit agreement was due to terminate only in 2020.

According to the Bursa filing, the termination will take place in stages, and will be completed on 27 December 2018. The filing also states that this termination will not affect Maxis’ financial results for the year 2017.

We have reached out to U Mobile for comments on the matter, and will publish an update when we hear from them.

(Source: The Star)

Update 29 June: U Mobile has released the following statement regarding the termination of the agreement:

With our growing subscriber base, U Mobile has decided that it will be more appropriate to focus on expanding our own network, especially with the additional spectrum of 2x15MHz of 1800MHz bands and 2x5MHz of 900MHz bands that were awarded by the government last year. The additional 1800MHz was made available on 1 April 2017 whilst the 900MHz will be made available on 1 July 2017. We are currently upgrading our owned networks progressively to support these new spectrum bands so that our customers can enjoy an enhanced network experience when the spectrum bands are turned on and the upgrade is complete.

This notice to terminate the RAN share agreement is not expected to impact our customers’ network experience or our service quality to our customers. We expect to be able to replace the RAN share sites within the stipulated timeline as we continue with our planned network investment program. U Mobile customers can look forward to an enhanced network experience and coverage once the exercise is complete.

The post (Update: U Mobile Statement) U Mobile Terminates Network Sharing Agreement With Maxis appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis and Huawei recently partnered to offer the latest Huawei Watch 2 + smartphone bundle on Maxis Zerolution. Get the Huawei Watch 2 along with a Huawei P10 or Huawei Mate 9 smartphone from as low as RM78 a month and RM133 a month respectively; it also comes with two months of Share Line for free.

Sign up for a MaxisONE plan 158 or 188, and get the Huawei Watch 2 with either a Huawei P10 or a Mate 9 smartphone from RM78 and RM133 a month. Add in another RM44 for the annual upgrade program so you can give the smartphone back to exchange for a new one after 12 month. An optional phone protection fee costs RM23 a month.

“HUAWEI is delighted to offer the all-new HUAWEI Watch 2 in this Maxis exclusive Zerolution bundle – in line with our promise to deliver products that enrich our customers’ mobile user experience and digital lifestyle in a timely manner. With this bundled promotion, we aim to offer Malaysian customers the best of both worlds in today’s mobile devices experience; complementing the all-new HUAWEI Watch 2 with either our best-selling HUAWEI P10 or Mate 9.” –Matthew Ng, Deputy Country Director, Huawei Consumer Business Group (Malaysia).

Check out our previous post to find out more about the Huawei Watch 2, or visit Maxis now for more information about its bundle.

The post Maxis Now Offering Huawei Watch 2 with Smartphone Bundle From RM78 a Month appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Hotlink recently introduced a new prepaid pack called Hotlink Super 2.0. The prepaid pack offers 1GB of high-speed internet each day for free, making that a total of 30GB of free internet each month. The catch? The free internet is catered for the night owls, valid from 1am to 9am each day. That’s not all, just top up your Hotlink Super 2.0 number, and you can get additional free 4G weekend data, or purchase a monthly data pass to enjoy even more free data.

The new Hotlink Super 2.0 starter pack costs RM10, and comes preloaded with RM5 credit (valid for 5 days), and 300MB of high speed internet (valid for 2 days) upon SIM activation. Existing Hotlink SuperIDD plan subsribers may also migrate to Hotlink Super 2.0 plan for a fee of RM1.

Hotlink will give its Hotlink Super 2.0 subscribers free 1GB “Larut Malam” pass each night, which can be used from 1am to 9am. Do note that your line must be active, and the free 1GB internet Larut Malam will not be given to you if you are in credit grace period.

As for the weekend top up promo, just top up a minimum of RM15 in a week (Monday to Sunday, accumulative top up), and Hotlink will give you free 1GB of 4G internet on Saturday and Sunday. On top of that, you will also get free 30 minutes IDD calls to Indonesia (valid on Saturday and Sunday only).

The new Hotlink Super 2.0 prepaid is also eligible for Hotlink’s on-going Happy Hour promotion. Just purchase a selected monthly or weekly internet pass, and get free 1GB of if high speed internet each day, valid for an hour. To redeem your Free Happy Hour internet, log into your account on Hotlink Red App, and click the “claim” button on the home page. Alternatively, dial *868 to redeem (valid from 7am to 7pm daily only).

Check out Hotlink now to find out more about its new Super 2.0 prepaid plan.

(Thanks Josh HD for the tips!)

The post Hotlink Introduces New Super 2.0 Prepaid with 1GB Free Late Night Internet Every Day appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis is now offering the latest Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro and Galaxy J7 Pro with its device bundle. Sign up for a contract under MaxisONE postpaid plan, and get these latest entry-level and mid-range smartphones from Samsung from as low as RM1.

The Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro retails at RM659.43 (before 6% GST), but if you sign up for a MaxisONE plan 128 and above, you can get it for only RM1. Sign up for a MaxisONE plan 158 and above, and get the Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro for only RM1. All MaxisONE postpaid plans comes with unlimited calls and SMS to all networks, along with up to 50GB of data in total.

The Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro and Galaxy J7 Pro were officially launched in Malaysia about a month ago. The J7 Pro is higher end option, featuring a 5.5” 1080p Super AMOLED display. It is powered by a 1.6GHz octa-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. Other specs include 13MP f/1.7 rear camera, 13MP f/1.9 front-facing camera, and has a 3,600mAh battery on board.

The entry-level Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro on the other hand has a smaller 5” 720p PLS TFT LCD display, and is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Other specs include 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, and a modest 2,400mAh battery.

Check out Maxis now for more information about its Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro and J7 Pro bundle.

The post Maxis Now Offering Samsung Galaxy J3 Pro and J7 Pro from RM1 appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Thanks to our tipster, it has come to our attention that Maxis has updated the product page for MaxisONE Home Broadband service. While the broadband plans look almost identical to existing plans, there is one interesting addition to the service’s FAQ section: P2P throttling.

According to the newly updated document, Maxis will apparently throttle all P2P traffic within MaxisONE Home Broadband from 8pm to 2am. Such restriction has never been mentioned in the previous iteration of the FAQ for MaxisONE Home Broadband.

As for the plans themselves, it seems that Maxis has streamlined them into four plans by consolidating the 30Mbps Lite and full-fledged into a single 30Mbps plan with free unlimited voice calls for RM 179 per month. Furthermore, the free unlimited voice call feature has also been added to the newly refreshed 10Mbps plan.

The changes can be seen in the images below:

Meanwhile, we are now reaching out to Maxis to obtain further clarifications regarding these changes. So, stay tuned.

(Source: Maxis. Thanks for the tips, Josh HD!)

The post P2P Traffic On MaxisONE Home Broadband To Be Throttled At Night appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has recently upgraded its Online ID backend service, which caused all accounts on Maxis online services to be expired. The security upgrade process requires all Maxis users to update their passwords the next time they log in.

This change affects all Maxis customers who are using the MyMaxis app, have a Maxis online account, or any other Maxis online applications and services. Those required to update their passwords should already have received an SMS from Maxis about this, or have seen the request when they open the MyMaxis app or log in to their Maxis online account.

The process is rather simple and straight forward. For those who update their passwords using the MyMaxis app, you need to verify your account by keying in your Online ID as well as the ID type and number (which can be your IC or passport number).

Once that is done, Maxis will send a TAC code to the associated phone number as a second security verification. Once completed, only then will you be required to key in a new password…and you’re done.

Maxis did not mention anything regarding this move, but it appears to be a standard security upgrade on the telco’s backend services.

The post PSA: Maxis Online ID Upgraded, Users Required to Reset Passwords appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Yesterday, we reported that Maxis has refreshed their MaxisONE Home Broadband offerings and seems to have added a very specific P2P traffic throttling policy into the service’s FAQ list. Naturally, we have reached out to the Telco to obtain further clarifications which as it turns out, the policy was posted in error when Maxis updated the site.

Maxis further clarified in its official response to our query that the Telco has not set any specific data management policy for its Home Broadband service regardless of P2P or any type of Internet traffic. Since then, the policy has been removed from the FAQ on MaxisONE Home Broadband’s product page.

That being said, Maxis does have a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) in place whereby the telco would exercise data management on users that it found to have abuse data volume quotas on its network. Hence, that is why there are still some references to P2P and file sharing software in its FUP:

“Excessive usage of the Service(s) including usage of certain software applications which may cause network congestion and negatively impair other customers’ usage including without limitation sending or receiving files containing very large amounts of data (including without limitation traffic from peer-to-peer software or applications i.e. Bit Torrent, eDonkey, Gnutella) or using file sharing software (such as Limewire, etc.).”

In case you are not aware of it, FUP is an industry-wide practice that is meant to protect the network from congestion and retain its quality in general. So, the reference to P2P software in Maxis’ FUP is nothing out of ordinary.

Meanwhile, we’ve also asked the Maxis whether the realignment of MaxisONE Home Broadband plans will have any impact to existing customers or otherwise. In its reply, the Telco has stated that these customers are not subjected to any changes should they choose to stay with their existing plans.

To know more about the latest iteration of MaxisONE Home Broadband, do head on over to their official website.

(Main image: Blog Uncle Chai)

The post Maxis: We Are Not Implementing P2P Traffic Throttling On Our Home Broadband Service appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Hotlink might be one of the country’s longest running prepaid service but it has come to our attention that Maxis will be launching another prepaid service very soon. Called Ookyo, its official website went live recently and it provides a significant amount of information regarding the upcoming service.

For starters, Ookyo offers unlimited data to its customers when they use selected apps which depends on what type of Ookyo’s All Access Pack that users choose. The list is shown below:

Both All Access Packs come standard with free unlimited access to WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat, and Facebook Messenger. It also comes with 3GB internet quota for other internet usage. For apps that are not listed above, customers can choose to obtain additional Unlimited Passes for them which apparently starts at RM 3 per app – at least, that’s what we understand from Ookyo’s official website.

At the same time, all Ookyo customers will also receive 10% of the amount they spend on purchases through the Ookyo store and monthly plan renewals in the form of Google Play credits. Customers will also able to receive free Google Play credits when they refer their friends to Ookyo.

At a glance, Ookyo sounds rather simple but truth to told, the service is rather complicated. For example, the unlimited access to these selected apps can only be obtained when users run the Ookyo app. In fact, users need to allow the Ookyo app to run as a VPN on their device.

In other words, the Ookyo app must continuously run on users’ phones in order for them to properly utilize their unlimited plans. Else, their general 3GB data quota will be used instead. For tethering, users apparently need to turn off VPN and data tracking access directly inside their phones settings.

Since Google Play is highly integrated with the service, it is not surprising that Ookyo is only available for Android users at the moment. In addition to that, the service also utilizes two e-wallets: one for Google Play and another one for Ookyo’s itself.

Another factor that makes Ookyo different from most telco packages in the market is the service being 100% digital. According to its website, the service will not have physical stores and all activities including customer service is done online. In fact, we couldn’t event find a helpline number on its website,  which means users might have to rely on Ookyo’s knowledge base or its Fuzzy chat bot for help.

To register with Ookyo, which can be done directly through its official website, you need a credit or debit card (Mastercard or Visa) as the service doesn’t accept cash or online banking for the time being. Once registered, a SIM card will be delivered directly to users via courier service – although the delivery service is limited to Peninsular Malaysia for now.

All in all, it goes without saying that Ookyo is significantly different from any of Maxis’ existing products in the market. With an emphasis on digital ecosystem and unlimited access as its main theme, it might seem that Ookyo is following TM’s Webe footsteps.

However, Ookyo’s unlimited access is being delivered through a different manner – and it does seem rather complicated to a certain extent. Additionally, Ookyo also has its own rewards system that is integrated with Google Play, which is unique to the service at the moment.

Despite all the details that we have dug from Ookyo’s official website, we are still curious on what Maxis has to say about its new prepaid service. Hence, we have reached out to the company to obtain further information regarding Ookyo.

(Source: Ookyo)

The post Ookyo: A Mysterious New Prepaid Service From Maxis That Offers Unlimited Data For Selected Apps appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Hotlink has introduced its new plans for mobile prepaid data. The new RED Passes include up to 46GB of monthly data, although this is spread out across several different offers and schemes. Needless to say, you won’t be getting all 46GB in a single lump sum.

At the upper end of the plans is the RM60 monthly charge for 8GB data. This is complemented with 30GB of Hotlink’s Happy Hour data, and an additional 8GB of weekend only data. The weekend data also only applies to 4G connections on the Hotlink FAST plan.

In theory, this brings the total up to 46GB spread out across an entire month. This data plan also provides free calls, including those made to other networks..

The other two monthly charged plans come in at RM45 and RM35. These provide 8GB and 5GB data respectively, but do not offer free calls. They do, however, include the Happy Hour data pass.

Those who prefer to buy their data on a weekly basis can instead opt for the RM10, RM8, or RM5 plan. These provide 1GB, 500MB, and 150MB data respectively per week; the RM10 plan also offers a 7GB Happy Hour data pass. The RM10 and RM8 plans represent increases over what Hotlink was offering before, which was 600MB and 300MB per week. Finally, Hotlink is still offering the RM3 for 1GB of internet daily pass. This doesn’t come with any extras, and has been around for some time.

For reference, the Happy Hour pass allows subscribers to access an additional 1GB of data every day – for an hour. Meaning that it is only there for a short burst of heavy usage.

Update: We’ve updated this story with additional information received from Maxis.

The post Hotlink Introduces New RED Pass; Up To 46GB Data For RM60 appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis today has unveiled a new plan called MaxisONE Prime. Aimed for customers that want to have a single postpaid plan that able to cover the whole family, the new plan not only covers mobile usage but also include home broadband as well.

This is due to the fact that MaxisONE Prime merges both mobile and home fibre plan into a single plan. In fact, the base plan of MaxisONE Prime is pretty much a combination of MaxisONE Plan 188 and MaxisONE Home 30Mbps. At RM 367 per month, it even costs the same as if you are subscribing them together.

Furthermore, the cost to add another Share Line under MaxisONE Prime plan is still identical to a stand-alone MaxisONE Plan as well at RM 48 per month for each line. That being said, customers will receive unlimited data for mobile usage instead of being limited to 50GB quota under the stand-alone MaxisONE Plan 188.

Additionally, Maxis guaranteed that MaxisONE Prime subscribers’ home Internet will have zero downtime. This is because the telco will be providing a router that uses 4G connection as its backup if there is any interruption to customers’ main fibre connection.

At the same time, MaxisONE Prime subscribers also have to obtain a selection of devices under the Zerolution Prime scheme. With zero upfront payment and installment terms of 24 months at 0% interest, these are the products that are being offered under the scheme at the moment.

Available from today onwards at Maxis Centre and Maxis Exclusive Partner outlets nationwide, more details regarding the new MaxisONE Prime plan can be obtained through Maxis official website.

The post This Is The New MaxisONE Prime: An All-In-One Mobile and Home Fibre Plan With Unlimited Data appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Our local telcos have finally unveiled their iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus device bundle pricing. Both devices starts from RM3,649 and RM4,149 respectively, but if you sign up for a contract under Maxis, Celcom, Digi or U Mobile, you may get the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus at a subsidised price.

But how do you pick which plan to subscribe to? Here’s a compilation of the latest contract plans for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus offered by these four major telcos in Malaysia.

As before, the plans are sorted into monthly commitment, so it’s easier to find what you are looking for depending on your monthly budget allocated for mobile plans. You can then see what each telco offers in each plan, and how much the subsidised iPhone 8 costs for that particular plan. A 24-month contract applies for each of those plans, so the total cost of ownership is based on the total monthly commitment you pay over the entire 2-year contract, along with the subsidised price of the device.

Monthly commitment of RM100 and below

Click on image for larger version

Monthly commitment from RM101 to RM150

Click on image for larger version

Monthly commitment from RM151 and above

Click on image for larger version

Upfront or advanced payments are rebated to you over the course of your contract; each telco reimburses the payment back to your account over different durations of time.

But of course, these are based on just numbers. Each telco has different additional perks that might help you make up your mind. For example, on top of a fixed amount of monthly data, U Mobile offers additional data for Music-ONZ, App-ONZ, and Video-ONZ. Maxis on the other hand lets you share your quota with additional numbers for RM48 a month with MaxisONE Share plan. Meanwhile, Celcom offers additional data for social apps and Yonder Music, and Digi offers additional freebies as part of its online exclusive promotion.

The post iPhone 8 Telco Price Comparison from Maxis, Celcom, Digi and U Mobile appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has opened its preorder for the latest flagship smartphone from Huawei, the Huawei Mate 10. The device retails at RM2,699, but if you preorder it from the telco, you can get it from as low as RM71 a month with Maxis Zerolution, or from RM1,499 with a traditional contract. Maxis’ preorder also comes with the same freebies offered by Huawei worth a total of RM999.

Maxis is offering the Huawei Mate 10 with its MaxisONE plan 128/158/188. These postpaid plans comes with unlimited calls and SMS to all networks, as well as plenty of monthly data depending on which plan you opt for.

The basic monthly payment for the Huawei Mate 10 on Maxis Zerolution starts from RM71 a month. However, if you wish to upgrade your phone after 12 months, you will need to pay an additional RM44 (optional) annual upgrade fee. Zerolution SafeDevice is Maxis’ device protection plan for the Mate 10 that covers accidental damage and “attended theft “for an additional RM23 a month.

24-month contract applies for normal contract plans for the Huawei Mate 10

As with Huawei, the Mate 10 preorder with Maxis will run from today, 19 October to 22 October 2017. The preorder comes with freebies including a selfie stick, car charger, Huawei Smart Scale, 3-month screen warranty, and 12-month 1-for-1 device swap.

Check out Maxis now to find out more about its Huawei Mate 10 bundle, or read our hands on post for a closer look at the Huawei Mate 10.

The post Maxis Unveils Preorder for Huawei Mate 10, Offers Freebies Worth RM999 appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Hotlink has a series of mysterious new data plans in the Hotlink Red app. Listed as a promotion under something known as HotlinkMU, it appears to offer a basic data package. Ones that are free from all the extras available to the regular Hotlink Red data passes.

We’re still not exactly sure what’s going on with this, as the promotion is being tagged with the word “beta”. On the surface, it looks like Hotlink is streamlining its add-on data under a new promotion. Especially since the validity of the HotlinkMU goes as low as only two hours, and extends all the way up to 30 days.

Curiously, the screenshot from @khainiz94 (who tipped us about the deal) doesn’t appear on our app. Leading to believe that this is a new system of personalised daily deals. Which could mean that Hotlink is offering differing amounts of data at different prices points. It’s difficult to say how much this differs across users, but it’s an interesting twist.

The additional data does not include other Hotlink benefits like Happy Hour data or unlimited free calls. In fact, buying the passes doesn’t even provide Red reward points in the app. Which could be due to the promotion still being a test.

We’ve already reached out to Maxis for more information but have not yet heard back.

The post Hotlink Seems To Be Testing Personalised Daily Deals Through HotlinkMU appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis is now providing personalised daily deals to Hotlink users through HotlinkMU. The official announcement comes a week after we had been tipped off to a beta test of the system last week. It appears that the deals are far more broad than we first expected, and are not only limited to additional data quota.

HotlinkMU offers a rotating menu of daily deals for subscribers through the Hotlink Red app. Through this, Hotlink users will be able to see special offers for things like additional data caps, streaming passes, and even call bundles. It’s hard to tell what the difference is for each person, but our own app is showing a free two hour pass for YouTube and an RM3 bundle for 50 minutes of talk time.

We have no idea how Hotlink decides on the kinds of deals that people see, but it looks like they are random for now. If anything, this provides an opportunity for the telco to experiment with promotions and see how people respond to them.

Hotlink users can take a look at the deals on offer for them through the Hotlink Red app (on both iOS and Android) or by dialing *100#82#.

The post HotlinkMU Introduces Personalised Daily Deals For Prepaid Users appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has recently announced its financial figures for the third quarter of this year, and the report holds quite a few interesting data about its customer base. With strong growth across the board, the company’s investments into its 4G infrastructure appears to continue to pay off.

One of the most interesting bits of data revealed in its report is the fact that Maxis subscribers use an average of 7.4GB of 4G LTE data per month. This is a huge 41% increase compared to the same quarter in 2016, which recorded an average of 4.4GB.

The company’s data also shows that LTE network traffic is tripled from Q3 2016 to Q3 2017. Plus, given that 75% of its subscribers are using a 4G LTE phone, we can expect these figures to steadily increase.

However, the national average figure pales in comparison when only Sabah and Sarawak subscribers are taken into account. The average amount of data per subscriber is a whopping 12GB a month in East Malaysia, which is partly due to the fact that fibre and broadband rollout in the two states have not been as rapid and robust as in the Peninsular.

That said, Maxis has also rolled out its MaxisONE Home Fibre broadband service in East Malaysia during this quarter, offering download speeds of up to 100Mbps. It also has the MaxisONE 4G Combo that combines a home and mobile plan into one.

Maxis has also continued to invest heavily on its network. Up until Q3 this year, it has already spent RM647 million on its network. Surprisingly, this isn’t as high as previous years (it spent RM1.2 billion in 2016 and RM1.3 billion in 2015). Nonetheless, it is already widely acclaimed as the best 4G LTE network in Malaysia, even on independent reports such as on OpenSignal.

With a 89% nationwide 4G LTE coverage and an increasingly data-heavy user base, the Maxis LTE network appears to be holding up pretty well for now. And with initiatives like the MaxisOne Prime home + mobile plans alongside its existing postpaid and prepaid plans, the company is gearing up to secure an even larger subscriber base.

The full Q3 2017 report can be viewed here.

The post Maxis Continues Strong Growth in Q3 2017; Average Data Usage At All-Time High appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

It’s easy to forget that the telco business has been around for decades, and in the last five years, developments in the Malaysian telco industry has accelerated to keep up with the shift in mobile technology.

Maxis has been in the thick of the Malaysian telco industry almost from the start, and with the industry at its most competitive, the company relies on its upper management to steer through new technologies and curveballs from the competition. The vision and future of the company lies, almost thoroughly, in their hands.

We sat down with Morten Bangsgaard, CTO of Maxis, as well as Dushyan Vaithiyanathan, Head of Consumer Business, as they explain the challenges the company has faced and the innovations it has rolled out to stay ahead of the competition. They also explain, among other things, why Maxis remains one of the most expensive telcos to subscribe to, how it uses data analytics to provide personalised offers that are tailored to the individual, and why Maxis may never offer an unlimited data plan.

Interested to be featured on #LYNSessions? Drop us an e-mail to newsdesk[AT]lowyat.net and you might be the chosen one!

The post #LYNSessions Ep 4: Morten B & Dushyan from Maxis appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has unveiled its next “all-in-one” smartphone package, the NeXT X1. Again focusing on first time postpaid users, as well as those looking for the simplicity and convenience of an all-in plan, the NeXT X1 also has plenty of after-sales features.

The NeXT X1 is essentially a higher-end version of the NeXT M1 phone that Maxis introduced earlier this year. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internal storage. The display is a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS panel, with Dragontrail glass, while the camera solutions are pretty straightforward with 16MP rear and 8MP front cameras. Rounding up the specs list is a 3,000mAh battery, a rear fingerprint sensor, and Android 7.

However, the hardware is just half the story. Maxis is placing a greater emphasis on the after sales service as a differentiator once again on its NeXT smartphones. The first half of this is a robust warranty program. The NeXT X1 comes with a 2-year warranty with a two-time, no questions asked 1-to-1 device replacement if something unfortunate happens to the device during the warranty period. There’s also a one-time screen replacement warranty that’s valid for 12 months.

The other half is the bundled, ready-to-use data plan that comes with the NeXT X1. It comprises of a 6GB data quota (3GB all-day + 3GB weekend), 50 minutes free calls to all networks, and on-demand internet booster packs that go as low as RM4/GB. This plan is exclusive to the NeXT X1 bundle, and costs RM98 a month (phone + plan) for 24 months.

The Maxis NeXT X1 is now available today in Steel Grey at all Maxis channels, including its online store, physical Maxis Centres, and Maxis Exclusive Partners nationwide. The older NeXT M1 is also still available as a more affordable option, priced at RM78 a month.

The post Maxis Announces NeXT X1 Smartphone: 2 Years 1-to-1 Warranty, 6GB Data, RM98 A Month appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has announced that its CEO, Morten Lundal, will be leaving the company at the end of his contract. No official reason was provided, and the company will reveal a successor in due course.

Lundal, 52, joined Maxis as CEO back in October 2013, bringing over 16 years of experience in the telecommunications industry onboard. He was previously CEO of Digi, before joining Vodafone in various global positions within the company. Lundal’s contract with Maxis ends on 31 March 2018.

The following is Maxis’ statement in full:

Maxis CEO will be leaving upon contract expiry

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
Kuala Lumpur, 3 November 2017

Maxis Berhad announced today that Morten Lundal, CEO of Maxis Berhad will be leaving the Company upon the expiry of his contract on 31 March 2018. The Board will announce his successor in due course. The Board wishes to thank Morten for his valuable contributions and services to the Company. The Company’s announcement to Bursa Securities dated 3 November 2017 refers.

(Source: Bursa Malaysia)

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If you’re looking for a new prepaid plan, it may be worth considering the Hotlink Fast or Super pack. From now only 31 December 2017, new subscribers to either one of these packages will receive 999GB of free Facebook access every single day.

Of course, there is one caveat to this deal: you’ll have to purchase a daily, weekly, or monthly data pass, which is really a given. Once you’ve done that, you can enjoy complimentary 999GB internet for Facebook every day; essentially, unlimited access.

To enjoy this deal, only certain data passes are eligible for the 999GB Facebook access. These passes are outlined by Hotlink below.

So what does the 999GB of Facebook access include? According to Hotlink, data used on Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and even native videos on the platform are counted as Facebook data. Of course, third-party sources such as embedded YouTube videos will use up your data quota instead.

The Hotlink Fast pack, much like the Super package, offers 8GB of extra internet every month on weekends as well as free basic internet. However, the Fast pack also comes with free 1000 minutes call to 5 Friendz. The Super pack, on the other hand, offers extra 30GB of monthly high speed internet “Larut Malam.”

This promotion is open to those who signed up for Hotlink Fast or Super pack from now until 31 December 2017. The free 999GB Facebook access, on the other hand, will be valid until 31 December 2018. More information on the promotion can be found here.

The post New Hotlink Fast & Super Subscribers Can Now Enjoy 999GB Free Facebook Access appeared first on Lowyat.NET.

Maxis has removed the Apple iPhone from its Zerolution upgrade programme. To be fair, Zerolution for the iPhone was never meant to be a permanent thing; having already been cancelled once before.

The notice on the iPhone Zerolution page clearly states:

“The Zerolution for iPhone promotional offer has ended. However, customers who have Zerolution for iPhone with Annual Upgrade may still upgrade their iPhone after 12 monthly installments.

New customers can opt for normal contracts instead. Please visit your
nearest Maxis Centre to find out more.”

On the surface, this looks like Maxis simply ending the iPhone Zerolution promotion as it said it would. The programme had originally been cancelled with the iPhone 6s not receiving an upgrade to the iPhone 7. This changed for some reason, when Maxis backtracking on the decision and bringing the programme back for “a limited time promotion”.

We’re also still unclear on what upgrade path remains for current iPhone users should they continue with their Zerolution payments. We’ve reached out to Maxis for more information and will update this post when we hear back from the company.

The post Apple iPhone Is No Longer Available On Maxis’ Zerolution appeared first on Lowyat.NET.