KUALA LUMPUR, 18 MARCH 2019 – U Mobile Sdn Bhd (“U Mobile”), the data centric and multiple award winning telco, today entered into a strategic partnership with Razer Inc. (“Razer”), the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers, to work towards collaboration in three key areas: e-payments, esports, and 5G testbeds.
Mobile payments in Southeast Asia are expected to be worth around US$32 billion by 2021, a tenfold increase from 2013 as smartphone penetration increases. PC and mobile gaming is also gaining traction on the back of Southeast Asia’s large, young and tech-savvy population, with the number of PC online and mobile gamers projected to rise from 300 million in 2017 to more than 400 million by 2021.
This strategic partnership will see U Mobile and Razer leverage on each other’s strengths and capabilities to advance the following initiatives.
- E-payments – Interoperability of U Mobile’s GoPayz and Razer Pay e-wallets in Malaysia:
The e-payments scene in the region is currently fragmented across multiple platforms. This strategic partnership between U Mobile and Razer in the e-payments space will see both companies work towards the interoperability of their e-wallets, namely GoPayz and Razer Pay respectively.
Upon successful implementation of interoperability, users of GoPayz will be able to seamlessly access Razer’s extensive network of over 10,000 payment points across Malaysia.
At the same time, Razer will have the opportunity to add GoPayz’s network of acceptance points across Malaysia to its own network, as well as gain access to U Mobile’s subscriber base of more than 6.5 million consumers.
The interoperability of both e-wallets, once finalized, will result in the creation of one of the largest connected digital payment networks in Malaysia.
- Esports – Nurturing Malaysia’s esports community:
U Mobile and Razer will work closely towards achieving Malaysia’s dream to be an esports regional hub. This could take the form of providing platforms and opportunities for the nurturing of talent (e.g. athletes or game developers), hosting esports related events, and by implementing the necessary infrastructure and technology required to make the vision a reality.
Razer, as the official esports partner of the upcoming 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 2019), will also explore opportunities to work with U Mobile on co-marketing and co-branding initiatives.
In recent years, U Mobile has been very active in the esports space as it is a key business priority, having sponsored the Malaysia Esports League, the KL Major and Mobile Legends Professional League Season 3.
- 5G – Testbeds and trials for esports:
Gamers are among the largest consumers of mobile bandwidth and data. A high-quality network without any delay is critical in gaming scenarios where even a split-second lag can mean the difference between victory or defeat.
5G technology has the potential to solve this issue. 5G deployment is a key priority for Malaysia and the government has set up a multi-stakeholder task force consisting of telcos like U Mobile, business associations, IT vendors, academia, as well as various ministries and agencies to provide implementation recommendations.
Together with Razer, U Mobile will explore conducting esports-related 5G testbeds and trials to maximise benefits and reduce technical challenges when deployment eventually takes place. Initiatives may include leveraging esports events in Malaysia as 5G testbeds.
Mr. Wong Heang Tuck, CEO of U Mobile, said, “U Mobile is delighted to partner with Razer to explore the potential of e-payments, esports, and 5G. As a leading authority on gaming, Razer is the perfect partner for us to conduct testbeds and trials on how 5G will level up the esports landscape with ultra-fast network speeds as well as minimal latencies. Esports has enjoyed meteoric rise over the past few years in Malaysia and esports athletes and audiences alike are definitely looking forward to faster game play, real time feedback and even 3D holographic communications. Basically, everything that U Mobile is striving to offer customers in the near future.”
Heang Tuck adds, “Esports has always been a key priority area for U Mobile, apart from connectivity support, we will also team up with Razer on other aspects of esports such as grooming esports talent.”
Mr Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer, said, “This collaboration with U Mobile is the latest move in our commitment to develop Malaysia as our fintech hub, and comes hot on the heels of the launch of our new Malaysian headquarters. We have exciting things in store for our fans in Malaysia and look forward to sharing more in the coming months.”
