MTel hopes to double number of users in 2018

Local telecom company MTel is planning to hit a new record in the number of customers in 2018, the chairman and CEO of the MTel, Choi Tak Meng, told the media this week.

“Currently, the number of our users exceeds 5,000, with households corresponding to the majority. More than 4,100 [of the users] are households, and the remaining are commercial users and WiFi stations,” said Choi. According to Choi, “our colleagues hope that [the number of users] can break the 10,000 barrier [in 2018].”

MTel’s business in 2017, doubled approximately that of 2016. The MTel CEO also stated that “more business will be even better.”

When talking about MTel’s service coverage in town, Choi revealed that “in the Macau peninsula, our coverage already exceeds 80 percent, while in Taipa it already exceeded 86 percent. In Coloane, it is more than 76 percent.”

In view of MTel’s concession and in agreement with the Macau government, MTel has to cover more than 99 percent of Macau’s residential buildings in 2018. When asked if the company is confident in achieving the goal, Choi replied that there are different expectations for distinct areas of the territory.

“Regarding Coloane and Taipa, we are very confident. We have been making plans for it, while many of them have already been implemented,” said Choi, who added that the commercial operations in the Macau peninsula are what MTel and several governmental departments have been working together on to expand coverage. However, Choi is still confident in achieving coverage of 99 percent  of residential buildings in Macau.

Until now, more than 1,000 buildings in Macau have installed MTel’s fiber optic network.

MTel was established in Macau in 2011. In 2013, the Macau government awarded MTel a telecommunications network license.

Before MTel entered the Macau market, Macau had a sole telecommunications service provider, which made it “inevitable” that customers would use the only service provider available, according to Choi.

During MTel’s network installation process in some of Macau’s buildings, the company was faced with difficulties posed by certain property management companies.

Making suggestions to the government regarding a solution to these problems, Choi hopes that Macau can refer to other regions to make changes.

“I used to make the related government department aware of the situation. In Hong Kong, if you have a license, the law rules that a building must let it [an operator] enter. […] It allows customers to choose whichever [operator] serves better,” said Choi.

According to Choi, MTel is a local operator with the whole team formed of Macau residents.