KUALA LUMPUR: AppAsia Bhd has sealed an agreement with Telekom Malaysia Bhd to develop the Yellow Pages digital platform for an initial five years.
This follows earlier reports that AppAsia might have bagged a deal valued as much as RM2 billion with TM.
As part of the agreement, AppAsia would take control of TM's fixed line business pages which is parked under the iconic Yellow Pages, sources said.
AppAsia had been tasked to revamp Yellow Pages to help TM crack the estimated RM2.25 billion digital advertising industry, the sources added.
In a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, AppAsia said its wholly-owned AppAsia Tech Sdn Bhd (ATSB), had signed an agreement with TM️'s unit TM Info-Media Sdn Bhd (TMIM) to develop, market and promote the Yellow Pages digital platform for the initial period of five years.
TMIM will provide the content and database to the Yellow Pages digital platform, develop the sales distribution channel and market the platform, including to existing and new business customers of TM,
TMIM and ATSB will be sharing the revenue generated from the platform in accordance with the stipulated sharing ratio, the filing said.
Yellow Pages is a leading digital business directory in Malaysia owned by TMIM and has a 500,000-strong business directory easily searchable online.
The agreement was expected to transform the Yellow Pages Business Directory into a fully-fledged digital classified platform with an online ecosystem of its own and a payment gateway using the latest artificial intelligence and big data technologies, said the Bursa filing.
It is also expected to have a material financial impact on the future earnings of AppAsia as it will enable the company to have access to a large customer base that in turn will help it establish a big role in Malaysia's RM2.3 billion digital advertising industry.
AppAsia's shares added 7.5 sen, or 10.2 per cent, to 81 sen yesterday.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Pelaburan Mara Bhd (PMB), which has been gradually increasing its stake in AppAsia, had played a pivotal role in AppAsia securing the deal.