Summary Bullets:

• Maxis had one while Celcom made two acquisitions of ICT service companies in Q4 2021 alone.

• The acquisitions enable the providers to expand and enhance their portfolios, as well as challenge the existing players.

This report discusses major enterprise telecom events based on announcements from industry players in the recent quarter For more on the previous update, please see Malaysia Enterprise Telecom Update Q3 2021 – Even More Cloud Developments , November 17, 2021.

Professional services are becoming critical in the enterprise ICT market. New technologies are widening enterprises’ internal skillset gap and hence driving the need for managed services. As these service experts are becoming scarce, ICT providers are looking for inorganic solutions to enhance their internal capabilities and address the growing market demand. In the last quarter (Q4 2021), Maxis had one while Celcom made two acquisitions of service companies.

Maxis acquired MyKRIS: Maxis made its fourth acquisition in the last two years with MyKRIS, a managed network and security service provider. While MyKRIS’ networking portfolio somewhat overlaps with Maxis, it can enhance the latter’s services through network redundancy. More importantly, MyKRIS’ cybersecurity solutions and team of 70 experts can enable Maxis to expand its ICT portfolio particularly in cybersecurity through wider partnerships, and enhance its service capabilities. Besides, with accelerated technology adoption during the pandemic, cybersecurity requirements are getting more complicated. Cybersecurity is increasingly offered as an integrated solution with other ICT services such as cloud, networking, UC, and IoT. Aligned with Maxis’ direction in expanding its portfolio, the added capabilities can enhance its overall offerings and service delivery. Furthermore, the added capabilities can also enable Maxis to challenge competitors such as TM who has established cybersecurity practice through its CYDEC brand. For more, please see With MyKRIS, Maxis Makes Fourth Acquisition in 18 Months, Further Enhancing Its Enterprise Portfolio , October 14, 2021. Celcom acquired Bridgenet: Following its acquisition of Infront in November (for more, please see Celcom Acquired Infront to Enhance Cloud Service Capabilities and Go Beyond SMBs , November 8, 2021), Celcom made another deal in December with Bridgenet, an ICT service provider. While Bridgenet’s focus was largely on cybersecurity and networking, it has a range of other ICT solutions including cloud and UC. As Celcom is still new in the enterprise ICT market with a limited portfolio, Bridgenet’s solutions, partners, and experts can fast-track the provider’s strategy to expand its offerings and close the gap with competitors. The added capabilities can also strengthen Celcom’s position and enable it to expand its target market to the larger enterprise segment. For more, please see Celcom Ups Its Enterprise ICT Game with Bridgenet Acquisition , December 2, 2021.

In 2022, Celcom and Maxis are expected to add new services in their portfolio leveraging the capabilities from their acquisitions. There will also be enhancements in their existing services adding new vendor supports (e.g., multi-vendor SD-WAN) as well as integrating security with cloud and SD-WAN such as CASB and SASE. Further, the stronger professional services will also enable Celcom and Maxis to compete for more complex ICT projects such as enterprise 5G applications and multi-cloud services. They will continue to pressure the existing players such as TM ONE and other IT service providers leveraging their strong brands in the mobility and SME segments.