By Aaron Tan
Wednesday, August 03 2005 10:21 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39246988,00.htm

SINGAPORE--Soma Networks is aiming to establish a bigger footprint in Asia after it received new funding from a Singapore venture capital firm, and sealed a deal last year with Jaring, a Malaysian Internet service provider.

Less than two months ago, wireless broadband equipment maker Soma secured US$50 million in venture capital funding from Morgan Stanley and Temasek Holdings, a Singapore investment company.

At the same time, Soma announced its partnership with Sanyo to jointly develop and manufacture next-generation consumer and infrastructure products for the wireless broadband market. These products are now undergoing customer trials and will be available by the second half of this year, according to a statement released by Soma.

Wireless broadband typically covers a range of up to 30 miles, delivering Internet access speeds of up to 75 megabits per second. This is more than 20 times the speed of the fastest wired broadband available commercially.

Soma also inked a contract last year to provide wireless broadband equipment to Jaring, which has been offering wireless broadband and voice services to the Malaysian capital city, Kuala Lumpur, since December 2004. Jaring will extend its service to the whole country by year-end, Greg Caltabiano, chief operating officer of Soma Networks told ZDNet Asia in a phone interview.

"We feel that the first-movers in wireless broadband are in the Asia-Pacific market, with a lot of service providers in the region expressing interest (in delivering wireless broadband services)," he said.

The market potential for wireless broadband in the region is greater than that of other countries, he explained, because people in the Asia-Pacific embrace new technology more readily than those in nations like the United States.

Giving a glimpse into the company's expansion plans for the region, Caltabiano said Soma is looking to invest in research and development in wireless broadband applications, as well as to set up a manufacturing plant in Malaysia to deliver wireless broadband products.

"Since the Asia-Pacific region is so important to us, the idea of manufacturing (in this region) is strategic to us," he said, adding that products coming out of the Malaysian facility will be exported to other markets worldwide.

Asked if Singapore or Malaysia will be the leader in wireless broadband adoption in Southeast Asia, Caltabiano said that wireless broadband has value propositions that are attractive to both countries.

Wireless broadband will provide a more competitive broadband Internet access market that Singapore, which already has an established Internet infrastructure, can benefit from, he said. This is because smaller operators no longer need to rely on phone lines and cable--usually owned by the incumbents--to deliver their services.

In Malaysia, service providers can now provide wireless broadband access to rural areas that are not supported by a physical Internet infrastructure, Caltabiano explained.

Soma had previously conducted wireless broadband trials with Singapore service providers such as Pacific Internet and MobileOne (M1) last year. Both have since obtained license spectrums in May to offer such services in the island-state.

The company is currently in discussions with M1 and Pacific Internet on deploying its solutions, Caltabiano said.