Living up to its 'low-cost' name, low-cost carrier Air Asia and Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd today introduced the country's lowest priced prepaid starter pack at RM4.99.

Celcom said it has broken away from the "herd" syndrome to introduce the AirAsia-Celcom starter pack with several new features.

"It stands to further boost Celcom's brand and market positioning in the ever-expanding and ever-competitive Malaysian mobile telecommunications industry," chief executive officer Shazalli Ramly told Bernama.

Customers can enjoy the benefits of five sen per minute call and one sen per SMS (short messaging service) to three registered 013 or 019 Celcom numbers in Malaysia, the company said.

The rates can be enjoyed for a four-month period until June 2006, it added.

The AirAsia-Celcom prepaid starter pack will be available at the Celcom service centre at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and also through AirAsia's in flight sales.

Seven million customers

According to Celcom, customers can also enjoy special IDD (international direct dialling) rates in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Macau, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Celcom currently has over seven million customers.

"We will assess market response to this innovative product throughout the promotional period and explore further promotional collaboration with AirAsia," Shazalli said during the launch of the starter pack here today.

"We are targeting to expand on our customer base from the number of tourists that opt to travel via AirAsia," he added.