YTL CEO Wing Lee bets on 4G in Malaysia

There's probably no single, simple path. But in the case of YTL Communications in Malaysia, the answer combines aggressive construction of a 4G network, a government boost for new network operators, and a business that embraces the services that many carriers don't like.

That's according to Chief Executive Wing Lee, who sat down to talk with CNET News' Stephen Shankland during a visit to Europe. Lee, who previously worked for 15 years at Sprint and Clearwire, was named CEO of YTL Communications in 2009. He expects the company to become profitable a year and a half from now.

An entrepreneur wanting build a developed country's next Vodafone or Verizon might not be able to take the same route: YTL can attract customers to its wireless service because Malaysia's fixed-line broadband options -- cable, phone, and fiber-optic lines -- aren't as widespread as in many countries.

YTL got its start building its network along highways outside Malaysia's major cities, but the company got an unusual opportunity: a contract to supply Malaysia's 10,000 schools not just with network access but also with a countrywide online education system for students and teachers. YTL brought Google in as a partner, and now it's the largest deployment of Google Chromebooks, Lee said. Lee is a fan of 4G, which he's lived and breathed for years. YTL and his former employer, Clearwire, embraced the WiMax network standard that mostly proved commercially unsuccessful, but YTL soon will begin installing LTE technology, too.

But Lee believes there's a 4G honeymoon period that will come to end as consumers encounter its shortcomings. To hear his thoughts, read this edited transcript of the interview.

Malaysia has a fairly progressive education blueprint that calls for the transformation of learning to prepare the next generation for the workforce. Toward that end, we dived into this private-public partnership with the government. 1BestariNet is a project that's a part of this blueprint. Its focus first and foremost is to deliver Internet to all public schools in Malaysia. There are 10,000 public schools. Malaysia has a population of 28 million, so some of the schools are quite small -- 40 or 50 people in small villages -- to 2,000-plus people in big cities. The total enrollment is about 5 million students. Delivering connectivity to the school is just a starting point. We just happened to have this 4G network, which gave us a tremendous advantage when it comes to deployment speed. The alternative would take years to complete. That's why we can deliver broadband to over 85 percent of the schools in 18 months' time. We target to complete all 10,000 schools by the end of this year.

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57611479-94/ytl-ceo-wing-lee-bets-on-4g-in-malaysia-q-a/