Packet One bet on WiMAX in Malaysia — industry chose LTE, company sold at a loss

Packet One Networks (P1) was founded on 11 February 2002 as a subsidiary of Green Packet, a Malaysian technology company. It was established to deploy 4G WiMAX services in Malaysia, becoming one of four companies awarded 2.3 GHz spectrum licenses in March 2007. In August 2008, P1 became the first company to launch commercial WiMAX services in the country, positioning itself as a broadband alternative to the established mobile operators.

P1 attracted significant investment from global technology and telecom giants. SK Telecom acquired a 25% stake in June 2010 for an undisclosed sum. Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, Qualcomm, and China Mobile all became strategic partners or investors. ZTE was awarded a US$28 million contract in 2009 to expand the network. P1 appeared to have everything — spectrum, funding, and world-class partners.

The problem was that the world was moving to LTE, not WiMAX. As mobile operators globally adopted LTE as the 4G standard, WiMAX became a technological dead end. P1 could not achieve the scale or network quality to compete with established Malaysian operators like Maxis, Celcom, and Digi. Subscriber growth stalled and the losses mounted. Green Packet, which had poured resources into P1, was forced to sell.

In March 2014, Telekom Malaysia acquired a 57% controlling stake in P1 for RM350 million (approximately US$107 million at the time). TM also committed RM1 billion in additional investment over the following four years. The acquisition was effectively a bailout — P1 was rebranded as Webe Digital in 2016 and later absorbed into TM's mobile arm, Unifi Mobile. Green Packet, the company that had bet its future on WiMAX, effectively exited the telecom space.