KUALA LUMPUR: DiGi.Com Bhd, the country’s third-largest mobile operator by subscribers, has embarked on a major rebranding exercise as it aims to become the leading provider of mobile Internet for the mass market.

Group chief executive officer Lars Norling said the group expects to achieve this goal by making access to the Internet easy through its high-speed network, competitive smart device bundles and good user experience.

He said making access to the Internet easy, coupled with DiGi.Com’s new distribution set-up, would fuel stronger adoption and consumption of Internet services.

As part of the group’s refreshed brand identity, DiGi.Com (fundamental: 1.35; valuation: 2.1) will have a new corporate logo and philosophy — namely “Let’s Inspire” — which will build on the group’s data-focused operations established over the last four years. 

“The timely brand refresh is in tandem with our strategic focus to continue bringing ‘Internet for All’, and comes on the back of extensive modernisation of our network, IT [information technology] and go-to-market structures,” Norling told reporters at the brand presentation yesterday. “We have been accelerating adoption and driving consumption of the Internet among more Malaysians nationwide, and this mirrors the steady growth in our mobile Internet customers year-on-year,” he added.

The four propositions at the base of the brand refresh are DiGi Live (offering the latest entertainment content), DiGi Value (value for money for voice and Internet plans), DiGi Easy (consistent and seamless customer experience) and Best for Internet (most consistent Internet experience). The brand refresh was rolled out across all customer touchpoints, including its website, social media channels, advertising, company infrastructures and retail outlets nationwide yesterday. 

On whether DiGi.Com’s network investment would increase from the RM950 million spent last year, Norling declined to elaborate, but said network quality and improvement would remain a priority. 

“We have expanded our 3G network to 86% population coverage, progressively introduced LTE (long-term evolution) services in more locations, and increased fibre network to more than 4,000km nationwide,” he said.

He also did not elaborate on industry growth, except that Malaysia is a dynamic growth market with a strong demand for mobile Internet.

“The market is driven by the demand for data. Smartphone penetration is 53% in Malaysia, with most consumers having more than one device,” said Norling.

DiGi.Com shares closed 13 sen or 2.09% higher at RM6.35 yesterday, with a market capitalisation of RM49.2 billion. 

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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 23, 2015.