Demand for WiMax may be lacking in worldwide markets where the impending promise of LTE lingers, but not in Malaysia where the populace is craving dramatic improvements in their broadband access. Service provider YTL is benefitting from that demand as the pre-registration for their WiMax network, slated to roll out November 19th, has surpassed their initial estimates threefold. 

The "Yes" wireless Internet and voice service is said to be as much as 5 times faster than most users' current 3G network. The new WiMax network also allows customers to pick their own ID and number. While we're sure that greater download speeds are a major factor in the exceeding of business expectations, one can never underestimate the power and promise of personalization played in the buoying the service sign ups. Although it may be an ultimately arbitrary factor for the service provider, the appeal of having a say in one's own number might be construed as "kinda neat" for customers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the service is that it will be billed like most utilities, not on a fixed monthly rate, but on an as used basis. 

Parent company YTL Power International Bhd. will spend RM2.5 bil on its initial push to bring the service to 65% of Malaysians upon its debut this week and 80% by mid 2011. The corporation is getting assistance from  Clearwater Corp, Intel Corp, Cisco Systems Inc and International Business Machines Corp on the rollout. 

YTL's executive chairman,Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, sees parallels between this new WiMax network and past technological innovations, saying that "“when people have tasted mobile Internet, they’ll never go back to mobile phone; same as when people have tasted colour television, they’ll never go back to black-and-white.”