Celcom, Samsung bring in world's thinnest tablet |
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(New Straits Time (Malaysia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) KUALA LUMPUR: Celcom Axiata Bhd, one of the country's top mobile telecommunications providers, is in talks with industry players on whether to pass down the six per cent service tax to prepaid mobile subscribers.
Celcom chief marketing officer Zalman Aefendy Zainal Abidin said currently, the telecommunications companies are absorbing the tax.
Zalman said the telcos had not decided on the matter.
"We target to submit the proposal to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission by next month." He was speaking to reporters after a tie-up with Samsung Malaysia Electronics Sdn Bhd to launch the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The Galaxy tab is the world's thinnest tablet at 8.6 millimetres and weighs only 565 grams.
According to ECM Libra in a June report, if the telcos passed the tax to consumers, they can expect a 3.4 per cent boost to their revenue.
DiGi stands to gain the most with a 4.2 per cent increase in revenue, while Celcom and Maxis will see revenue go up by 3.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively, the research house said.
"The revenue boosts will push profits up for DiGi, Maxis and Celcom by 17.6 per cent, 9.4 per cent and 8.5 per cent respectively," said ECM Libra in the report.
The telcos have been in talks with the government for nearly three months now, seeking approval to pass down the service tax on airtime reloads to prepaid subscribers.
Business Times, however, understands that a decision on that matter will only be made next month after an earlier plan to impose the six per cent service tax on consumers was put on ice.
On the tie-up with Samsung, Zalman said the partnership will cement Celcom's commitment to introducing new products.
"The growth and potential of the tablet would help Celcom achieve its target of signing up two million smart device subscribers by end of this year," he said, adding that so far, Celcom has about 1.8 million smartphones subscribers.
By end-2012, Zalman said Celcom expects its smartphones users to jump by 40 per cent.
In conjunction with the launch, Samsung is working with Celcom to offer attractive packages to the public.
The first 300 customers at The Piazza, The Curve, Kota Damansara, will get the tablet for only RM999 while 20 randomly selected lucky customers will get it for RM99.
Celcom offers the 3G version of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with several broadband plans from as low as RM1,468 instead of its retail price RM1,899.
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