KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): U Mobile Sdn Bhd will earmark more than RM1 billion for capital expenditure in 2017 to enhance the telecommunication company's network coverage as its subscriber base grows.

U Mobile chief executive officer Wong Heang Tuck and chief marketing officer Jasmine Lee said the company has 5.6 million subscribers. Wong and Lee said postpaid customers accounted for 25% of total subscribers and that U Mobile aimed to double its postpaid subscriber base to 50% in the next three years.

"We are also growing our prepaid side as the data plans have been gaining traction with the value-added services," they told reporters after the launch of U Mobile's new postpaid plan here today.

According to them, the number of U Mobile's postpaid users had grown to 25% of total subscribers from 5% in three years. Looking ahead, they said the company hoped to achieve a balanced subscriber base at 50% each for the postpaid and prepaid segments.

U Mobile's website indicates that the company, which was launched in 2007, had grown its subscriber base from less than 50,000 to over four million in less than five years.

U Mobile's major shareholders are ST Telemedia and U Telemedia.

Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Vincent Tan owns U Telemedia.