ALL the good news from US, thus klse going to follow suit

Stocks rallied Thursday in a broad-based advance as a strong report on economic growth in the third quarter reassured investors that the recovery is on track. The Dow Jones industrial average gained just shy of 2% (+200 pts, close 9,962.58), according to early tallies. It was the Dow's biggest one-day percentage gain since July 15, and came exactly 80 years after Wall Street's darkest day, the Crash of 1929. The S&P 500 index added 2.3% (+23 pts, close 1,066.11), its biggest one-day percentage gain since July 23. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.8% (+38 pts, close 2,097.55), its biggest one-day percentage gain in about a month. U.S. light crude oil for December delivery recovered from Wednesday's downturn, rising US$2.41 to settle at US$79.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (CNN Money)

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U.S. economy returned to growth in the 3Q after a yearlong contraction as government incentives spurred consumers to spend more on homes and cars. The world’s largest economy expanded at a 3.5% pace from July through September, figures from the Commerce Department showed in Washington. Household purchases climbed 3.4%, the most in two years. Policy makers will now focus on whether the recovery, supported by government spending and tax credits, can be sustained into 2010 and generate jobs. The record US$1.4trn budget deficit means President Barack Obama has little room for maneuver as he tries to keep unemployment from rising above 10%, while Federal Reserve policy makers wind down emergency programs in a bid to prevent a surge in inflation. (Bloomberg)

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U.S. household purchases climbed at a 3.4% pace from July through September, the strongest performance in more than two years, the Commerce Department’s report on gross domestic product showed in Washington. The gain helped drain stockpiles at a US$130.8bn rate, a decrease second only to the prior quarter’s record drop. In the first six months of the year, companies shut down assembly lines in a bid to cut inventories as sales plunged. The improvement in demand last quarter caused goods on hand at retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers to continue falling, pointing to a pickup in production that will spur growth even as consumer spending probably cools. (Bloomberg)

TELEKOM,SUNRISE,SPSETIA, AIRASIA,F&N

Telekom Malaysia Bhd (T MK, Buy, TP: RM3.98) has so far spent RM1.3bn of the RM11.3bn allocated for the high-speed broadband (HSBB) project it hopes to launch by next March. Group CEO Datuk Zam Isa said most of the spending was to develop the core network and to secure international capacity. The next stage will be rolling out fibre optics for the last mile at
targeted geographical locations, which are high density areas within the Federal Territory and Selangor. Of the 95 exchanges nationwide to be covered by the intial rollout, to date physical work has been completed at four exchanges and in progress at 44 exchanges. (Starbiz)

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Telekom Malaysia Bhd (T MK, Buy, TP: RM3.98) has come under fire from The Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia (DPMM) for awarding contracts to foreign firms in the rollout of the high-speed broadband (HSBB) project. News reports said DPMM planned to write a formal letter to the Prime Minister about this, pointing out that contracts were awarded by TM to companies such as China’s Huawei and ZTE Corp as well as France’s Alcatel-Lucent, leaving outcompetent local firms. In response, TM issued a statement explaining that its decision to sign up foreign principal vendors for the HSBB project was because of the high technology involved and the equipment is not manufactured in Malaysia. TM said that as at the end of last month, it had awarded HSBB-related contracts worth RM1.2bn where more than 200 local vendors were involved, led by a RM600m contract for the fibre-to-the-home infrastructure which was awarded to local fibre optic manufacturers. (Starbiz)

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Sunrise Bhd (SUN MK, Buy, TP: RM2.85) expects to launch at least 2 real estate projects in the Klang Valley within its current financial year ending June 2010 and add to its unbilled property sales, which stand at some RM860m. The company also hopes to reduce its debt. After a shareholders’ meeting yesterday, executive chairman Tong Kooi Ong said the projects include its “28 @ Mont’ Kiara” (MK28) high-rise residential project along Jalan Kiara, within the upmarket enclave of Mont’Kiara. The launch of MK28 which comprises 460 condominium units, is scheduled for this December. Construction of MK28 is ongoing with completion expected 3 years from its launch date. The Office towers, which are intended for sale, have a net saleable area of about 550,000 sq ft and completion is expected within 4 years. (Financial Daily)\

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SP Setia Bhd (SPSB MK, Sell, TP: RM3.36) has acquired an additional five million shares or 10% equity interest in Setia Putrajaya Sdn Bhd from Abad KIlat Sdn Bhd for RM6.65m cash. Following the acquisition, SP Setia’s stake increased to 60% while the remaining 40% is held by Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd. (Malaysian Reserve)

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AirAsia Bhd (AIRA MK, Buy, TP: RM1.80) officially signed an agreement regarding the deferring the delivery of eight of its A320 aircrafts with Airbus S A S which is initially due in 2011 on top of another eight aircraft announced last August. It is said that the delivery of the aircrafts have been pushed back to 2014 and 2015. With the deferment of the delivery of the eight A320s, the low cost carrier (LCC) has reduced the number of A320s it will take in possession of in 2011 from 23 planes to 15. However, no penalties were expected from the deferral but may impinge on its revenue growth rate. With the deferment of the 16 aircraft, Air Asia’s load factor, the ratio of passengers carried versus total passenger capacity is expected to grow between 10% and 15% over the next two years. Air Asia also added t hat the present low-cost carrier terminal did not have the sufficient room to cope with its fleet expansion. AirAsia continues to have doubts over the completion of the new LCCT in Sepang will be on time. Air Asia also said that it sold four B737s and took delivery of 14 A320s in 2009, and was looking to redeliver between 10 and 13 of the Boeing aircraft to lessors in 2010. Air Asia made its latest order of 25 A320s in 2007, with an option for 50 more, which makes it the largest customer for the A320s. Air Asia closed at RM1.30 per share yesterday, down one sen with
2.6 million shares done. (Financial Daily)
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Fraser and Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) is targeting annual revenue of at least RM3.8bn compared with RM3.6bn achieved in the year ended Sept 30, 2008 (FY08). For FY09, it expects about 5.6% rise in revenue, or RM200m, over FY08. CEO Tan Ang Meng said the target could be achieved with the increasing demand for its products as well with its plan to produce more types of drinks next year and its new mineral water bottling plant in Bentong. (Starbiz)

NONE OF MY INTEREST

29.10.2009 local business news

PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk’s, a unit of CIMB group holdings (CIMB MK, Hold, TP: RM12.18) net profit rose to 457bn rupiah in the 3Q ended Sept 30 compared with 433bn rupiah in the preceding quarter. Net interest income for the period grew marginally to 1.62 trillion rupiah from 1.61 trillion in the preceding quarter. For the 9 months ended Sept 30, CIMB Niaga reported a 19% jump in net profit to 1.15 trillion against 967bn rupiah a year ago. (Starbiz)

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IOI Corp Bhd (IOI MK, Hold, TP: RM4.80) is investing RM1bn to expand and upgrade its refineries and specialty fats plants in Malaysia and the Netherlands. The money will be sourced from shareholders. Yesterday, IOI Corp Bhd's shareholders approved a renounceable 1-for-15 rights issue of up to 421m shares priced at RM2.90 each that would raise RM1.22bn. IOI's single largest shareholder of 41% stake, Progressive Holdings Sdn Bhd, will buy all entitled shares. IOI's 1.3m tonnes per year refinery in Pasir Gudang will see expansion by 150,000 tonnes while 450,000 tonnes a year capacity to the Rotterdam refinery. (BT)

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Proton Holdings sees opportunities for a strategic alliance with luxury passenger car manufacturers with the engine capacity of 1800cc and above. This is in light of the Government’s announcement in its review of the National Automotive Policy (NAP) was that it would be lifting the freeze of the issuance of new manufacturing licenses for luxury passenger vehicles with engine capacity of 1800cc and above costing more than RM150,000 effective 1st of January 2010. Proton’s current main vehicles are sold with capacities ranging from 1.3 to 1.6-litre engine sizes. As stated by the managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, Proton’s aim was also to establish a strategic partnership with a globally established original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to enhance competitiveness in the market. He also said Proton was looking to offer new variants at competitive prices to improve its domestic sales. (StarBiz)（So proton going to fly soon!)

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Mah Sing Group Bhd has proposed a corporate exercise to raise RM103m through a private placement and a one-forfive bonus issue. The placement involves the issuance of 63m shares, representing 10% of its paid up capital while the bonus issue is for up to 151.286m shares. The placement is expected to be completed by the end of the year while the bonus issue is targeted to be completed in the first quarter of next year. Mah Sing said wholly-owned subsidiary Nova Century Sdn Bhd acquired about 10.4ha of freehold development land in the matured township of Selayang for RM41.65m cash or about RM36.66 per square foot. Another wholly-owned subsidiary, Sierra Peninsular Development Sdn Bhd, had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Panasonic HA Air-conditioning (M) Sdn Bhd to buy about 7.84ha of prime land in Petaling Jaya for RM89m or about RM104.23 per square foot. The land has an estimated gross development value of RM838m and will be developed over five years. (Malaysian Reserve)( good news!waiting to accumulate when drop!)

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Iskandar Investment Bhd has teamed up with WCT Bhd to jointly develop and co-own 1Medini, the first residential development in Medini which has a gross development value of RM600m. According to their joint statement yesterday, the partnership, the first for Iskandar Investment with a local company, would be carried via their respective subsidiries Medini Land Sdn Bhd and WCT Land Sdn Bhd. The parties said 1Medini, scheduled for launch in mid2010 and to be fully completed by 2015, would comprise 1,332 condominium units and a 68,800 square-feet commercial area for local retail businesses. The first phase comprising over 300 units will be ready by 2013. (Financial Daily) ( iskandar related counters any good fundamental one?)

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As expected, the revised National Automotive Policy (NAP) did not bring about cheaper cars as the import and excise duty structure remains unchanged. However, the auto plan liberalised the higher-end segments of the car assembly market and improved incentives for component manufacturers. It also mapped out the abolishing of open approved permits (APs) by end-2015 and franchise APs by 2020. In tandem with the abolishment of open APs by 2015, the import of used cars and commercial vehicles will be prohibited by January 2016. To weed out the “kereta potong” (cut and assemble) menace, the government will prohibit the import of used parts and components by June 2011. Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed also announced the “vehicle end of life policy”. Under the policy, cars that are 15 years and above will undergo mandatory inspection before the renewal of their road tax. However, this part of the plan has yet to be finalised. Of the 18 measures in the NAP, noteworthy was the liberalisation of the vehicle market of 1,800cc and above and priced RM150,000 and above on the road. Mustapa also said foreigners can own 100% of the manufacturing facility. Also of interest was the eventual abolishment of the AP method of importing cars. Open APs, which can be used to import cars and are given out to bumpiputra entrepreneurs, would be abolished in 2015 while the franchise APs which are brand specific would be eliminated in 2020. (Financial Daily)( as usual, local make cars going to gain。）
*

28.10.2009 some local business news

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) (TNB MK, Buy, TP: RM9.90) and Indonesia’s utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara may spend US$300m to build a power line connecting the two countries. TNB and Listrik plan to set up a venture that will build a power line connecting Malacca and West Sumatra with a capacity of 600megawatts., Listrik director Bambang Praptono told
reporters, Upon the line’s completion in 2015, Indonesia will sell 300MW of electricity at noon, Malaysia’s highest electricity consumption period, with a reverse 300MW trade taking place in the evening, during Indonesia’s peak electricity use, Praptono said.Both TNB and Listrik Negara would be evaluating financing options for the project, and TNB CEO Datuk Seri Che Khalib
Mohamad Noh. (Starbiz)

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The Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has fined 3 of 4 WiMAX licensees in the country a total of RM3.8m for failing to cover 25% of the population in the areas given to them by end-March this year. However, it is understood that the regulator’s decision is being disputed by at least 1 player. It is learnt that among the 3 penalised, YTL E-Solutions Bhd (YTLe), the only 2.3GHz WiMAX licence holder that has yet to offer commercial services, was slapped with the largest penalty of RM1.9m. Asiaspace Sdn Bhd, which launched its “Amax”- branded WiMAX in Taman Tu Dr Ismail in August 2009 to kick off it service in selected townships in Klang Valley, was fined RM1.7m while REDtone International Bhd was hit
with a RM210,000 penalty. These figures could not be officially confirmed at press time. The trio had been given until end- March 2010 to fulfil their Year 1 and Year 2 coverage obligations, as per their respective detailed business plans.” In retrospect, Green Packet Bhd’s Packet One Networks (m) Sdh Bhd (P1), the only licensee not hauled up by the regulator, had on Oct 13 said it had been given the go-ahead by the MCMC to expand its coverage into East Malaysia. (Financial Daily)

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The funds under Public Mutual may decide to abstain from voting at the Tradewinds (M) Bhd extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today that will deliberate on the proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas). Public Mutual via its various funds has about 9.8% and is the 3rd largest shareholder in Tradewinds. During the EGM,shareholders will deliberate on Tradewinds’ proposed acquisiton from Hong Kong-based butMalaysian-owned Wang Tak Co Ltd’s 31.5% in Bernas. Shareholders will also deliberate on Tradewinds’ proposed acquisition of a 22% stake in Bernas from Gandingan Bersepadu Sdn Bhd. Both proposed acquisitons at RM2.08 per share will cost Tradewinds RM526m. Both acquistions, if approved, will trigger a mandatory general offer (MGO) for the rest of the shares that Tradewinds does not own in Bernas. The general offer will cost it another RM452m. (Financial Daily)

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The Ministry of International Trade and Industry is to release the National Automotive Policy (NAP) at 10am today. The review of the NAP would include fresh measures and incentives aimed at promoting the local automotive industry to higher level of competitiveness both regionally and internationally. The review would also focus on attracting new investments,
expansion on existing operations and also on research and development, with emphasis on new automotive technology such as low emission vehicles. The review may also refine existing automotive policies to bring the industry up-to-date with global standards. More rigorous vehicle testing standards and the improvement on of quality domestic fuel could be in progress. Other than that, Budget 2010 stated that the Government will charge RM10,000 for every open AP from next year onwards and the money will be channelled into the Bumiputera Development Fund in the sector. No big changes in car pricing is expected according to analysts. However, changes in the country’s automotive policy will have an impact on national car manufacturers,
Proton Holdings Bhd and its competitor Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd. (StarBiz)

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The government plans to spend within RM230bn under the upcoming 10th Malaysian Plan (10MP) as part of its aim to more than double the country’s per capita income within the next decade. The 10MP, which will span from 2011 to 2015, would need to sustain the economic growth at 5.5% annually for the next five years in order to achieve the status of high income
economy, according to the Economic Planning Unit’s (EPU) director general Datuk Noriyah Ahmad. “The main driver will be the private sector and the role of the government is to facilitate the development,” she said. (Malaysian Reserve)

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The decision whether to implement goods and services tax (GST) will be made before year-end after the Government completes a detailed study on the social impact of GST on the community. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad said while GST would be a more efficient system of tax collection, there was a need to seriously look at the implications of implementing GST across the board as it had a social cost and could adversely affect small businesses. “This two-month study on the feasibility of implementing GST is critical before a decision is made,” he said. (Starbiz)

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Quill Capita Management Bhd (QCM), the manager of commercial REIT Quill Capita Trust (QCT), is seeking renewals for the remaining 16% of its tenancy agreement expiring this year. This follows the renewal of its lease with HSBC Electronic Data Processing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, which is occupying Quill Building 2. QCT’s latest presentations notes indicate that tenancy agreements with BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Electronic Data System IT Services (M) Sdn Bhd at Quill Building 3 will expire this November. (Financial Daily)

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Scomi Marine bhd, via its 80.54% unit PT Rig Tenders Indonesia TBk, has acquired a 5,380 bhp AHTS vessel for US$15m (RM51m). Scomi Marine said that PT Rig Tenders , via 70:30 JV with Marco Polo Ventures Pte Ltd, had entered into an agreement to acquire the vessel with a ship repair and maintenance agreement attached from Marco Polo Shipping Co. Pte Ltd. The new vessel is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2010 and will boost PT Rig Tenders fleet to 57 units. (Financial Daily)

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Malaysia Steel Works (KL) Bhd (Masteel) yesterday signed an off-take agreement with Stemcor Australia Pty Ltd for the export of RM120m worth of steel bars to Australia. CEO Datuk Seri Tai Hean Leng hopes that the alliance would pave the way for further working opportunities with Stemcor. Masteel said under the agreement, it would export substantial quantities of high tensile deformed bars annually, for the next 2 years to the Australian market. (Financial Daily)

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Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah yesterday did not discount the possibility that petrol price at the pump could follow the market price or without subsidy once the subsidy management system is implemented early next year. The Second Finance Minister said the new structure will be more targeted to the groups that qualify to enjoy the subsidised petrol price. ”The price of petrol might be fixed at market rate but the targeted individuals will get the subsidy. There will be no subsidy for petrol price except for the targeted groups,” said Datuk Seri Ahmad. “The (subsidy management) system is being developed and it will start with petrol. It will be implemented between the 1Q and 2Q,” he added. The target groups are likely to involve the
lower income group or those at a specific salary scale and MyKad could also become one of the mechanisms for giving out subsidy, he also said. (Malaysian Reserve)
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AXIATA,AIRASIA,PETRONAS, CARLBERG,CAROTEC

Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd, a unit of Axiata (AXIATA MK, Hold, TP: RM2.75) is launching a new mobile broadband discount event from October 30 to November 1. Dubbed “The Broadband Big Deal!”, the three-day event will be held at Boulevard Strip, Plaza Low Yat, Kuala Lumpur from 10am until 11pm. During the event, Celcom will offer its Celcom Broadband service for RM88 that comes with a Celcom-Vodafone USB stick, upon signing up the broadband basic package at RM89 per month or a customer can opt for the broadband advance package at RM119 per month. (BT)

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AirAsia (AIRA MK, Buy, TP: RM1.80) carried 19% more passengers in the third quarter from a year earlier, the company said yesterday. Southeast Asia’s largest low-cost airline by fleet size said it carried a total of 3.6m passengers during the quarter. The airline’s passenger carrying capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, expanded by 13% after it took delivery of new aircraft. Third-quarter seat load factor, or the percentage of total seats fill, was unchanged at 75% from a year ago, it said. (BT)

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Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) awarded two production sharing contracts (PSCs) for Block SB309 and Block SB310 offshore Sabah with an estimated minimum financial of US$75m and US$117m respectively. The PSCs were awarded to a partnership between Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and Talisman Malaysia Ltd. Talisman Malaysia, with participating interest of 70% in each block, will operate both blocks. Meanwhile, Petronas Carigali will own the remaining 30% interest each in the two blocks. Talisman has agreed to spend a minimum of US$2m on secondment training initiatives for each block in addition to the seismic and drilling in addition to the seismic and drilling commitments which cover six years. Petronas said the two blocks, measuring 5,815 sq km and 7,271 sq km respectively, were located in water depths of up to 150m. (Starbiz)

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Response to Maxis Bhd’s share sale, Malaysia’s largest initial public offering (IPO), is said to be tepid thus far, with asking prices said to be near the lower end of the RM4.80 and RM5.50 price range that book-runners are indicating. A local fund manager notes that pilgrims’ funds Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) chief investment officer Mohammed Noor Abdul Rahman had publicly declared his fund would not pay more than RM5.30 apiece for Maxis shares. The fund manager is picking up Maxis shares “for benchmarking purposes”. Maxis is set to launch its prospectus tomorrow. The final retail and institutional price for the Maxis shares are to be fixed by Nov 10, after the conclusion of the book-building exercise on Nov 9. Shares of the country’s leading mobile operator are set to debut again on the Main Market in a little over 3 weeks on Nov 19. (Financial Daily)

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Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd has targeted the acquisition of Carlsberg Singapore Pte Ltd (CSPL) for RM370m, to boost the company’s financial performance in 2010. Its managing director said that the beer market in Singapore is attractive and Carlsberg Singapore is a successful, well run and a profitable company. He said the acquisition of Carlsberg Singapore is
also boosted by the upcoming youth Olympic games and the development of casinos in the country. (Malaysian Reserve)

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Carotech Bhd has signed a RM170m agreement with Swiss firm Mercuria Energy Trading SA to supply its proprietary CaroDiesel biodiesel to the latter for a year, starting January 2010. Carotech said, under the terms of the supply agreement, it would supply Mercuria with a minimum of 60,000 tonnes in total, which worked out to about 5,000 tonnes per
month, at the premium over the price of crude palm oil (CPO) . (Malaysian Reserve)
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IJM,DIGI,,MAS,MAHB,MAXIS

IJM Corp Bhd (IJM MK, Hold, TP: RM3.64) hopes to win more highway jobs in India under the recently announced newnational highway programme for roads, said Datuk Krishnan Tan. “(Under the new programme), the packages are going to besubstantially larger and we will be bidding for some of them”, he said. Indian road, transport and highways minister Kamal Naththis month set a target of 7,000km per year across all states, which translates into roughly 20km per day. Kamal Nath wasquoted as saying that in the next 10 months, there will be about 11,000km of roads and contracts costing Rs1 lakh crore(US$20bn) to be awarded. (BT)

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Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, unit of Digi.Com Bhd (DIGI MK, Hold, TP: RM20.10).has committed RM75m to rollout its Turbo 3G mobile and broadband service in Sabah over the next 3 years. Digi said that so far, coverage has beenexpanded to cover some 95% of the population in Kota Kinabalu. The company expects to progressively activate existingmobile subscribers on Turbo 3G, starting with Sabah and Penang yesterday, followed by Klang Valley at a later date.(Malaysian Reserve)

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Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM)(T MK, Buy, TP: RM 3.98) is on track to commercially launch its high-speed broadband(HSBB) retail service in the 4 initial areas of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Bangsar, Subang Jaya and Shah Alam by the end 1Q10.TM said to date, physical work had been completed at four exchanges and in progress at 44 exchanges, out of 95 exchangesto be covered by the initial rollout. It said by the end of 2012, about 1.3m premises would have access to HSBB services, inaccordance with the completion of the first phase of the project agreed by the government. TM group CEO DatukZamzamzairani said as at end of 2Q09, the government had reimbursed it a total of RM665m work completed. He said theretail service trials were scheduled to begin with 150 households involving TM employees residing in the 4 areas by mid-November 2009. Following that, in January 2010, additional 300 selected households within the same area will be involved.(Financial Daily)

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Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS MK, Sell, TP: RM2.00) and Hainan Airlines Group (HNA) have signed a strategiccooperation framework in order to strengthen their business relationship. MAS managing director Tengku Datuk AzmilZahruddin said the collaboration would lead to better resource sharing, multi-hub network as well as expediting theirinternational development progress such as enabling MAS to reach those destinations that it doesn’t fly to (in China). He saidthe collaboration would also enable its cargo arm, Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo), to have access to HNAGroup’s global network and increase its market share. MASkargo managing director Shahari Sulaiman said MASkargo andHNA would start discussions to explore each other’s networks. (Financial Daily)

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Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) will give incentives in the form of cash to airlines that continue to bring inadditional passenger traffic to Malaysia. The quantum of the monetary incentive is still unclear but MAHB managingdirector/CEO Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad is looking to announce details before the year is out. The suggestion to reward airlines insearch of new growth by MAHB appears to be timely as it will not just make airports in Malaysia more competitive but alsoallows them to attract more airlines to operate in the country. It also helps airlines that are struggling due to the economicdownturn. This monetary incentive proposal is being considered despite the fact that Malaysian airport charges are already thelowest in the region. The new cash incentive is meant for all airlines that operate from the country and from all the 39 airports inMalaysia but it is for new business only. All the existing incentives will also remain intact, such as the waiver for landingcharges for new flights for 3 years. (Starbiz)

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Maxis Communications Bhd to double its wireless broadband user base by year-end, following the launch of its newbroadband campaign, Something for Everyone. “Our sales have improved more than 100% year-to-date compared with lastyear. Next year, we expect to outperform this year’s performance,” senior general manager and head of broadband said.According to the draft prospectus lodged by Maxis Bhd, the company added about 31,000 mobile broadband subscribers in thefirst six months of 2009. Its broadband subscription totalled 171,200 or about 21% marker share, as at June 30. The newbroadband packages ranged from as low as RM8 per day to RM48 per month. (StarBiz)