VZCZCXRO4959
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHKL #1682/01 3400532
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 060532Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0333
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1536
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001682 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR - WEISEL AND JENSEN 
STATE PASS FEDERAL RESERVE AND EXIMBANK 
STATE PASS FEDERAL RESERVE SAN FRANCISCO TCURRAN 
SINGAPORE PASS TO S.BAKER 
USDOC FOR 4430/MAC/EAP/J.BAKER 
TREASURY FOR OASIA AND IRS 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN EINV ETEL MY
SUBJECT:  The Challenge of Dealing with Malaysia Inc. 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Doing business in Malaysia can be a challenge for 
foreign firms and the recent DiGi.com restructuring is a case in 
point.  DiGi.com, a mobile telephone service provider majority-owned 
by Norway's Telenor ASA, needed to reduce its equity stake in the 
firm this year to meet GOM requirements and it needed access to a 
third generation (3G) license to continue to expand its business. 
DiGi had lost bids to obtain the license in 2005 to two local mobile 
phone companies, and again in 2006 to two local companies not 
engaged in the mobile phone service industry, even though 3G 
technology is specifically for mobile telephones.  In what looks 
very much like a government orchestrated set up, Telenor was herded 
into resolving its equity and licensing problems by making a deal 
with Time dotcom, an unprofitable company owned by the Government of 
Malaysia (GOM) which just so happened to be the lucky recipient of a 
3G license from the GOM in 2006.  On November 15 Telenor sold a 
10.2% stake in DiGi.Com to Time dotcom, reducing its stake to 49% as 
required under GOM foreign equity ceilings.  In return, Time dotcom 
will transfer its 3G license to DiGi, according to press reports. 
Essentially, Telenor is paying the GOM-owned firm a USD 188.7 
million premium to gain access to the 3G license.  That's easy money 
for the government-owned firm but a bitter "cost of doing business 
in Malaysia" pill for Telenor.  End summary. 
 
THE HISTORY 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In 2000, Norway's Telenor ASA bought a majority stake in 
DiGi.com, a publicly listed Malaysian firm owned by politically 
connected Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan.  Over the next five 
years, Telenor turned DiGi into Malaysia's second largest mobile 
phone service provider.  In 2005, the GOM announced that it would 
issue three third generation (3G) licenses. [Note: 3G wireless 
technology is designed to improve the speed and quality of mobile 
telephone service and combine the functionality of a mobile phone 
with that of a PC and a personal organizer/PDA.  End note.]  DiGi, 
having the second-largest subscriber base in Malaysia, was expected 
to be granted one of the three licenses.  However, when the awards 
were announced in August 2005, only two licenses were granted:  one 
to Maxis Communications and the other to government-owned Telecom 
Malaysia, the country's largest and third-largest mobile phone 
service providers, respectively.  [Note:  Maxis Communications is 
owned by politically influential billionaire Ananda Krishnan. End 
note.] 
 
¶3.  (SBU) DiGi was told more licenses would be issued the following 
year and in March 2006 the GOM issued two more licenses, but not to 
DiGi.  Instead, one was given to Time dotcom, an unprofitable 
government-owned fiber-optic company, and the other to MiTV, a 
failing pay-TV operator owned by none other than Vincent Tan, the 
man who sold his stake in DiGi to Telenor back in 2000.  The GOM 
issued licenses to Time dotcom and MiTV for the 3G mobile phone 
technology, despite the fact that neither company was a mobile 
telephone service provider.  In his press statement announcing the 
awards, Minister of Energy, Water and Communications Dr. Lim Keng 
Yaik said, "To achieve a win-win situation, the successful 
applicants have been directed to work with DiGi and other service 
providers as a mobile virtual network operator." 
 
THE DEAL 
-------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In a move to comply with Malaysia's equity regulations on 
foreign investors in the telecommunication industry, Telenor ASA 
reduced its controlling equity stake in Malaysia's mobile phone 
operator DiGi.com to 49% on November 15, 2007.  The deal involved 
the sale of a 10.2% stake comprising 76.5 million DiGi shares to 
government linked corporation Time dotCom for RM 1.61 billion (USD 
480 million), at a cost of RM 21.05 per share. 
 
¶5. (SBU) As part of the agreement, DiGi will gain access to Time 
dotcom's 3G license until April 2018 in exchange for issuing 27.5 
million new DiGi shares (equivalent to a 3.5% stake in DiGi).  At 
its current share price of RM 24.80, this is worth RM 682 million 
(USD 203.6 million).  The government awarded the 3G license to Time 
dotcom in 2006 for RM 50 million (USD 15 million).  DiGi Chief 
Executive Officer Morten Lundal told reporters that DiGi.Com would 
invest up to RM 800 million (USD 238 million) over the next three 
years in the 3G spectrum following Time dotCom's acceptance of its 
offer to form a business alliance.  The alliance with Time dotCom 
also gives DiGi access to the former's fiberoptic network and WiMax 
capacity.  The company plans to roll out 3G services by the second 
half of next year.  However, Minister Lim Keng Yaik told the press 
 
KUALA LUMP 00001682  002 OF 002 
 
 
that the license was not transferable.  Time dotCom would have to 
request special permission to transfer the license and, as far as he 
knew, to date no request had been made. 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Comment: The DiGi-Time dotcom tie-up is a perfect example 
of how business often is conducted in Malaysia's service sector. 
Malaysian companies owned either by cronies or by the government are 
awarded coveted licenses in closed deals, enabling them to engage in 
rent-seeking behavior while letting others do the work.  Time 
dotcom, which has incurred losses for years, has done nothing with 
the 3G license it obtained in March 2006.  Now it is flipping that 
license for the tidy sum of RM 682 million ($ 203.6 million), giving 
the company a new lease of life. Innovative companies like Telenor 
are left to wheel and deal their way through the Malaysian 
bureaucratic mess and still somehow manage to make a buck. 
KEITH