KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 3): U Mobile Sdn Bhd aims to grow its postpaid subscription business, which is about 10% of its total subscribers now, to be on par with the industry average of 20%.

U mobile chief marketing officer Jasmine Lee said the company is looking at a balance of 80:20 between prepaid subscribers and postpaid subscribers, the industry ratio.

"Prepaid users will continue to drive the Malaysian market. The whole industry is at 80:20, which is a healthy balance, U Mobile is looking at this," she told reporters at the sidelines of a partnership signing ceremony with Sedania Innovator Bhd.

She noted that the postpaid services offered last year received good response as its postpaid subscriber base has doubled. The telecommunications company (telco) currently has 4 million subscribers, of which 90% are prepaid users.

On its subscriber base, she said U Mobile wishes to be on equal footing with other telcos, which have about 12 million subscribers on average.

Meanwhile, she said U mobile is glad to receive the spectrum allocation announced recently.

"For U Mobile, we are happy with what is allocated [to us], but we need to see what is the allocated segment," she said.

With more spectrum, she said there will be more market for the telco to serve.

On Monday, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission chairman Datuk Seri Dr Halim Shafie said spectrum in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands will be reallocated among Celcom Axiata Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Maxis Bhd and U Mobile by August this year.

He had said the two bands of spectrum will be assigned for a fee to the four telecommunication players for a period of 15 years.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the telecommunication spectrum will be re-distributed through a bidding process to increase the government's revenue, during his presentation of the revised Budget 2016.