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Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded1995; 29 years ago (1995) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Headquarters
Bandar Seri Begawan
,
Brunei
Number of locations
9[1]
Area served
Brunei
Key people
Radin Sufri Basiuni (CEO)
Products
Number of employees
700 (2014[2])
Parent
  • Darussalam Assets
  • Unified National Networks Sdn Bhd
SubsidiariesKristal FM
Websitedst.com.bn

Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd. (DST), formerly DataStream Technology Sdn Bhd, is a Brunei-based government-linked[3] conglomerate headquartered in the DST Group Building in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It was established in 1995 and as of December 2021 has at least 420,000 subscribers.[4]

History

[edit]

Integrated Communication Sdn Bhd (DSTINCOMM), a local distributor of telecommunication products, was incorporated in July 1994, DataStream Technology Sdn Bhd (DST) the main holding company was incorporated in April 1994 alongside DST Communication Sdn Bhd (DSTCom),[2] it was created in an attempt to end the monopoly held by BruNet[5] where it was the first operator to introduce 2G (GSM 900) services to Brunei.[6][7]

Kristal-Astro was incorporated in September 1999 as a joint venture between the Malaysian company MEASAT.[2] It launched its satellite television services on 24 January 2000 and held a monopoly on pay tv in the country.[8] The services were terminated on March 31, 2022.[9][10]

In May 2008 DST introduced 3G services in Brunei. They launch of 3G was however beaten by b-mobile.[7][11] Prior to this they held a monopoly on 2G and was in an ogliopoly with JTB for PSTN services.[12]

In November 2013 DST partnered with Ericsson to launch 4G services in the sultanate. The main concern was not speed but network congestion with frequent complaints in populous areas of the country.[13][11] Until 2020 DST held a monopoly on 4G services in the country.[7][14]

In 2016 it was reported by the CEO, Suhaimi Hussain, that he believed that the launch of the 4G LTE network, in collaboration with Huawei was a success. He also stated that the company had also decided to invest in the Singaporean telecommunications company MyRepublic and was looking at further opportunities at expansion outside of Brunei.[15]

On 10 July 2019, DST signed an agreement with SACOFA to help with improving the infrastructure in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.[16]

Throughout January 2020, DST underwent a major rebranding. They received a new company name, a new logo, and spun off several subsidiaries like Kristal-Astro, KRISTALfm, DSTFascom and DSTINCOMM.[17][4]

On 22 January, DST, along with the other 2 telcos: Progresif and imagine, announced that they would be rolling out new service offerings on the 24th. This came after a restructuring in the handling of the national infrastructure in which it all got consolidated into a separate company called Unified National Networks, where the goals of the asset takeover was to increase competition and increase choice.[18][19][3] The new plans were announced by DST's CEO and DST's chairman, second Ministry of Finance Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, at The Empire.[20] This led to a renaming of their postpaid services from "Prima" to "Mobi" and "GO!broadband" to "Freedom", while also simplifying their existing plans, another change that was unveiled was the release of some new bundle packs for their "Eas!" prepaid mobile phone services. DST also announced their first forray into the Fibre to the Home segment of broadband internet with the launch of their fixed line packages.[4]

On 6 August, DST's CEO, Radin Sufri Radin Basiuni, signed an agreement with MultiSys to improve DST's systems to improve efficiency and provide additional services to DST subscribers.[21][22] This collaboration came to fruition with the release of the MyDST app and website to DST subscribers in May 2021.[23][24]

On 15 September, it was announced that DST had collaborated with the Ministry of Health (Brunei) to revamp the call centre for emergency services in the country. The upgrade now allows for 30 concurrent phone calls from all districts in the country, an increase from 15 that only worked for three of the four districts.[25][26]

5G services was launched and made available on 22 June 2023.[27] Previous 5G trials were conducted in April 2021 utilising new and existing radio frequency spectrum to provide high-capacity bandwidth in all high internet traffic areas, and according to AITI, the internet speed on the 5G network is expected to reach between 300 Mbps and one Gbps.[28]

Services

[edit]

Since at least 2013 DST in conjunction with Progresif and MachTel offer the option of having O level, IGCSE, A level or PSR[29] results SMSed to students on results day.[30][31] On 19 February 2016 DST now offered the same SMS results service for SSSRU examinations.[32]

Charity

[edit]

In 2011 DST raised $22,780 through its SMS Brunei Prihatin service in donations in response to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and various floods in Australia.[33] In 2015 DST raised $103,725 for the National Orphans' Fund through the same service.[34]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "DST | Store Locations | DST". Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c *"ASEAN Study - Brunei" (PDF). wipo.int. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b Hutchins, Tianna. "2021 Investment Climate Statements: Brunei". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  4. ^ a b c "DST launches revamped products". The Scoop. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  5. ^ Horton, A.V.M. (2001). "NEGARA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: Economic Gloom and the APEC Summit". Southeast Asian Affairs. 2001: 95–109. doi:10.1355/SEAA01G. JSTOR 27912270. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  6. ^ *"CESSATION OF 2G GSM SERVICES IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM" (PDF). UNN Brunei. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Spectrum Plan" (PDF). AITI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  8. ^ "KRISTAL Astro Sdn. Bhd". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  9. ^ "KRISTAL Astro". www.kristalastro.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  10. ^ "Astro's satellite TV service is shutting down in Brunei after 22 years in operation". MSN. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  11. ^ a b "Mobile market: The leading players in the nation's telecoms industry". Oxford Business Group. 2 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Agreement Establishing the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Area - BRUNEI DARUSSALAM'S SCHEDULE OF SPECIFIC SERVICES COMMITMENTS". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  13. ^ "The recent launch of 4G services and a new fibre-to-the-home initiative are set to provide better access to higher-speed internet". Oxford Business Group. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Prices of fixed, mobile services to come down with UNN » Borneo Bulletin Online". Borneo Bulletin. 10 March 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  15. ^ "ICT in Brunei - DST - Suhaimi Hussain". The Business Report. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  16. ^ "DST partners with SACOFA to bring quality broadband services to Sarawak - The Bruneian". 10 July 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Service Differentiation through Trademarks". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Brunei's 3 telcos to release new service offerings from January 24". The Scoop. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Competition Management". AITI. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Technology to empower Bruneians » Borneo Bulletin Online". Borneo Bulletin. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Brunei, Philippine tech firms sign deals to expand local digital transformation". The Star. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  22. ^ "DST joins hands with Philippine tech giant » Borneo Bulletin Online". Borneo Bulletin. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  23. ^ Malapo, Jao (4 May 2021). "Brunei's largest telco company DST launches mobile app jointly developed by MultiSys". BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  24. ^ "DST revamps mobile app with new security features". The Scoop. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  25. ^ "DST powers new 991 call centre". The Scoop. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  26. ^ "991 convert to a new call management system". Ministry of Health. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  27. ^ "5G rolled out in Brunei". The Star. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  28. ^ Nin, Catherine Sbeglia (2022-09-19). "Brunei kicks off 5G trial". RCR Wireless News. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  29. ^ "PSR results available via SMS | The BT Archive". btarchive.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  30. ^ "MoE registration for 2013 exam results opens tomorrow | The BT Archive". btarchive.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  31. ^ "SMS Exam Results". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  32. ^ "New SMS service offers religious exam results | The BT Archive". btarchive.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  33. ^ "$371,000 raised for Aussie, NZ victims | The BT Archive". btarchive.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  34. ^ "Over $100k raised for orphans | The BT Archive". btarchive.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
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