YTL Communications won the Bronze award at the Global CSR Awards 2012 for Product Excellence. The Sustainability Division of YTL Corporation Bhd made this submission on behalf of The YTL Group and YTL Communications.

Thirteen companies from China, India, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore were recognised for their outstanding corporate social responsibility initiatives programs and services at the 4th Annual Global CSR Awards 2012 held in conjunction with The Global CSR 2012 Summit held on 19th April 2012 at the Shangri-La hotel, Boracay, Philippines, one of the world's top beach destinations. The competition has been the most intense this year with over 80 submissions from various companies around the world.

The event, dubbed Asia's Most Prestigious Recognition Awards programme for Corporate Social Responsibility, recognises and honours companies for outstanding, innovative and world-class products, services, projects and programmes implemented in 2011/2012. These projects demonstrate the company's leadership, sincerity and on-going commitment in incorporating ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, and respect for individuals, communities and the environment in the way they do business.

The Product Excellence Award has been given to companies that have created products that have brought alive positive impact to societies while contributing positively to the organiser's bottom line. An in-depth search and selection process has been conducted for the Awards comprising the generation of entries, initial screening, comments by advisors and final judging.... ›› more

BRITISH department store chain Debenhams will open its brand new flagship store at YTL’s Starhill Gallery at 10am on May 19. At over 37,000 sq ft, the store is the largest Debenhams in the country and also in South East Asia.

The store will be officially opened the night before with a fashion show incorporating the most popular Debenhams designer ranges such as Jasper Conran, Henry Holland, John Rocha, Matthew Williamson and The Principles range by Ben de Lisi. The highlight of the evening will be the showcase of the latest line by Julien MacDonald, who is flying in to Kuala Lumpur from the UK, especially to assist in the grand opening of the store.

MacDonald has been designing ranges under the exclusive “Designers at Debenhams” label since 2003 and his ever popular “Star by Julien Macdonald” and the more recently introduced “Diamond by Julien Macdonald” lines are amongst the best selling collections in Debenhams stores worldwide.

In conjunction with the formal opening of the YTL’s Starhill Gallery store, the first 150 customers on May 19 and 20 will receive a free Debenhams eco bag and a specially designed Union Jack themed travel umbrella with a minimum spending of RM250. Debenhams has a legacy dating back to 1785. ... ›› more

Yes is NOT a telco. Yes, you heard it right. They are in fact, an internet company offering a full IP-based, fully converged data network with voice. And boy, have they been moving fast. 16 months ago, Yes launched with an impressive 1,100 base stations, covering 50% of the nation’s most populous. Now the number stands at 2,200. At exactly the same time next year, Yes has committed to deploying nearly 5,000 base stations to cover Peninsula Malaysia and Sabah/Sarawak. Deployment in Sabah and Sarawak has gotten approval from the MCMC, and work is expected to start in the second half of this year.

Yes 4G’s data speeds on average has outperformed all other wireless telcos consistently, in fact between 5-10 times the speed of 3G. Globally in network performance tests by city, Yes 4G has managed download speeds of up to 19.88Mbps and uploads of 4.52Mbps, beating other international telcos like T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wireless in the US. That’s quite a feat for a company barely 2 years old.

Over the 16 months, Yes 4G subscribers have downloaded over 2 Petabytes of data, exchanged over 4 million SMSes and chatted for over 12.5 million minutes. How much is 2 Petabytes? (is that even a word?) That’s equivalent to watching full 1080p HD videos for 24 hours a day. For 99 years.

Eclipse. The Yes 4G Ecosystem is complete.
Why build the best, fastest network without having devices to support it? With the spanking new Eclipse smartphone, Yes 4G can boast the most complete repertoire of devices.

Yes 4G commissioned the likes of Foxconn, world-class makers of such top-of-the-line smart devices like the iPhone and iPad; Qualcomm, by far the biggest mobile/embedded chipmakers in the world; and GCT, leading supplier of Mobile WiMAX solutions in the world.

The objectives were clear – a smarter than smart, smartphone supporting 4G converged services of data and voice, legacy worldwide 2G/3G support, 4-way video (6-way for audio) conferencing, customized Yes Life services and apps, and the wealth of apps from Google Play Store. And it needed to last a full day of use.

The Eclipse achieved all that, with the backing of Google. The smartphone is Google certified, runs the Google Play Store and has full access to the plethora of 450,000 Android apps out there.

I’ve been using the Eclipse since last week and been impressed with the build quality, first and foremost.

The Eclipse is smart enough to know if one network is not available and it will prompt you when you try to call or SMS.

We got to test 4-way video calling for the very first time. It worked flawlessly over the Yes network.

Fire up YouTube and you’ll be enjoying HD videos on the go with minimal wait. Thanks to the 4G network, video streaming doesn’t even break a sweat, seriously.

The 1500mAh battery supplied isn’t the biggest out there, but thanks to ground-up power management optimizations in the Eclipse, battery life is pretty close to the claimed 19 hour standby and 7 hour talk time. The journey’s just begun
With the Eclipse, I feel the journey for Yes 4G, its services and devices, has only just begun. The Eclipse is a solid first effort, and I expect it and future iterations to be even better. ... ›› more

Study suggests lower death risk for coffee lovers - The Star

Older people who reported drinking a few daily cups of coffee were less likely to die over the subsequent 14 years than were those who abstained from the beverage or rarely drank it, according to a U.S. study of 400,000 people.... ›› more

This Column Is Not Sponsored by Anyone - NY Times

PORING through Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel’s new book, “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets,” I found myself over and over again turning pages and saying, “I had no idea.”... ›› more

Smartphones encroaching on time spent with loved ones: report - Indian Express

Smartphones have affected the private lives of people, as it is encroaching on the time spent with loved ones, a study by telecom equipment maker Ericsson said today. As per a study on mobile broadband usage in India by Ericsson ConsumerLab, 34 per cent of the respondents said smartphones have "significantly encroached on quality time with spouse/close ones".... ›› more