Virtual telecommunication services in Malaysia was recently launched by Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa in partnership with the Southeast Asian countries fourth largest telecoms operator U Mobile. The move is clearly upping the ante on its rivals in an already highly competitive market.

VMMEA is based out of Dubai and is partly owned by the Virgin Group of British billionaire investor Richard Branson. The company is a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO. These kinds of companies do not own networks that they utilize to provide their services. Instead, they lease capacity from regular operators, where they pay a percentage of revenue on top of regular fees.

VMMEA is the fifth entry into the Malaysian telecoms market, where mobile operators as well as other MVNOs are competing for market share. While mobile penetration was at high of 143% by June 2013's end, nothing much has change since the end of 2012. According to data from the country's regulatory authorities, this is a clear indication of stagnating subscriber growth.

According to VMMEA CEO Mikkel Vinter, through a statement, "Malaysia has strong cultural, trade and tourism links with the Middle East markets where VMMEA has the bulk of operations."