Khazanah ropes in Global Transit to turn around TdC

PETALING JAYA: Khazanah Nasional Bhd has roped in Internet protocol player Global Transit International Sdn Bhd (GTI) to turn around Time dotCom Bhd (TdC) and to ensure its long-term operational and financial sustainability.

Khazanah said GTI former chief executive officer (CEO) Afzal Abdul Rahim would take over as TdC CEO, a post that was previously vacant.

“Additional team members will be nominated to fill other vacant key senior positions, namely chief operating officer and chief financial officer,” it said in a statement yesterday.

Afzal Abdul Rahim

Khazanah, which owns 30.04% of TdC, said the new team led by Afzal would have three months to assess the operations of TdC and draw up a long-term turnaround strategy for TdC board’s approval.

TdC had in May announced its allocation of RM200mil to roll out high-speed wireless Internet services in major cities in the country. It had in May also transferred its 3G spectrum licence to DiGi.Com Bhd for a 10% stake in the latter.

Khazanah said yesterday that under the agreement with GTI, it would transfer its TdC stake to a special-purpose vehicle, Pulau Kapas Ventures Sdn Bhd (PKVSB), in which Khazanah would have a 61.2% stake.

GTI would hold the remainder 38.8% in PKVSB and inject its unit, Global Transit Communications Sdn Bhd (GTC), which is a major player in the wholesale Internet protocol transit market in Malaysia and the region, into PKVSB.

Upon meeting certain performance targets of TdC and GTC, GTI would be given an earn-out option to increase its stake in PKVSB to become its major shareholder.

GTI is part of a consortium to build a US$300mil, 10,000km undersea cable from Japan to the US, alongside Google, Bharti Airtel of India, KDDI of Japan, Pacnet of Hong Kong and SingTel of Singapore.

Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said the agreement with GTI was to ensure TdC’s long-term operational and financial sustainability as well as injecting key senior management talent to fill existing gaps in the company.

He added that Khazanah had formed a selection committee, that included independent professionals from the telecommunications and corporate sectors, to assess proposals from several companies.

“The committee believes that GTI is best for the task as it has the entrepreneurial skills and telecommunications experience, as well as sound management to assist TdC in its operational and financial recovery,” he said.

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