Collect call.

SPECULATION is rife that telco giant Maxis will relist on Bursa Malaysia.

How will this affect the sector? MALAYSIA'S ALREADY ACTIVE telecommunications sector could be about to get even busier, with the country's largest mobile phone services provider mulling plans to list on the stock exchange and predictions the industry will defy the global downturn by continuing to post solid growth for the next five years at least.

As the Malaysian market is nearing saturation point, with penetration rates close to 100%, the battle is now not to attract first-time users to the world of mobile telephony but to woo clients from rivals with new services or to get existing subscribers to upgrade their coverage package.

According to a recent study by market researcher IDC, the Malaysian telecommunications sector will expand at a rate well above the expected world average of 2%, growing at around 5% a year until at least 2013, by which time the sector will be worth some US$ 9 billion. This …