DST upgrades Easi service
By Azlan Othman & Jacky Lim


From left: Awang Saifulbahri bin Pehin Dato Haji Jaya, Deputy Managing Director, DST Communications; Pengiran Haji Mohd. Zin bin Pengiran Damit, DST Group Managing Director; Dato Seri Paduka Dr. Haji Ahmad bin Haji Jumat, Deputy Minister of Education/Chairman of DST Group of Companies; Mr. Raymond Tan, President, Singapore & Brunei, Service Provider Networks for Lucent Technology International Inc and Mr. Michael Riley, Assistant
Vice-President Customer. Development/Programme Management for GSM UMTS.

EASI card service, the country's prepaid card service was further upgraded with the signing of a $7 million agreement between DST Technology Sdn Bhd and Lucent Technologies World Services Inc yesterday at Orchid Garden hotel. The upgrade will allow a capacity of 80,000 subscribers.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Education and Chairman of DST Group of Companies, Dato Seri Paduka Dr. Awang Haji Ahmad bin Haji Jumat.

The Managing Director of DST Group of Companies, Pengiran Haji Mohd. Zin bin Pengiran Damit said that the signing marks another milestone in DSTcom's 5 year history. In July 1999, DSTcom launched the prepaid GSM service under the brand name EASI.

At that time, DSTcom had a commissioned system for 30,000 subscribers. By late December 1999, EASI had about 25,000 subscribers.

In responding to public and consumer requests, the operations of EASI were also reviewed, and new features were added such as the extended expiry period and subscriber message notification of expiry dates. The upgrade to the EASI system was completed in late April 2000. The EASI subscriber base grew from 28,000 to 49,000 by mid-June 2000.

Lucent Technologies said the contract signing is the continuation of the partnership with DST Technology to provide customers with the latest technology.

According to Awg. Saifulbahri Pehin Dato Hj Jaya, DST Com Deputy Managing Director, the upgrading will not focus on the introduction of services such as SMS or roaming.

With regards to introducing the mobile wireless internet or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Saiful said that the service will be available within six to nine months.

At the moment, DST is doing the necessary groundwork in order to facilitate and ensure that such a service could be made available in the country.

DST has also been chosen as the country's second Internet service provider explained Awg Hj Marsad, the Managing Director of DST's Multimedia Department.

DST will launch its Internet services, called "Simpur" in September, in time for the APEC summit in November.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin