AIS subsidiary seeks nod to test 4G
By USANEE MONGKOLPORN
THE NATION
2011-03-14
Digital Phone Co (DPC), the cellular subsidiary of Advanced Info Service (AIS), has requested CAT Telecom's permission to test the 4G wireless broadband service, which is seen as AIS' attempt to explore a new opportunity in the wireless broadband service field to compete with True Corp.
A source at AIS said that DPC is waiting for permission from CAT, which owns DPC's concession, to test the 4G Long-term Evolution (LTE) technology service on DPC's 1,800MHz spectrum. DPC is expected to test the service with all three telecom equipment suppliers Huawei Technologies, ZTE, and Ericsson.
The source added that according to the planned trial, these suppliers would ask for permission from the National Telecommunica-tion Commission (NTC) to test the 4G service on DPC's spectrum in parallel with DPC's request for CAT's permission for such a test.
The DPC's move came after CAT granted deals to True subsidiaries Real Move and Real Future in January, which paved the way for their joint development of the commercial 3G-High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) service with CAT. AIS cannot let True group take the lead alone in the arena, so it has to seek ways to stay ahead or catch up with its competitor.
The AIS source said that if CAT supports True to promote the 3G service, the state agency should also support DPC to test the 4G service.
A DPC source added that DPC would set aside as much as 10MHz bandwidth out of total 12.5MHz bandwidth of its 1,800MHz spectrum for the 4G trial, given that the LTE technology requires huge bandwidth. The test will be run for 90 days on between seven to eight numbers of DPC cellular base stations in Bangkok.
CAT chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong had earlier said that the state agency wants to evolve its 3G-HSPA service to the LTE service in the near future, in line with the global trend.
LTE TO BECOME CHEAPER
Though the price of the LTE network equipment is still high and there are just a few 4G compatible devices in the market, the price is likely to see a declining trend in the next few years.
All telecom operators have sought ways to expand their wireless broadband services on the existing spectra after the Central Administrative Court last September suspended the NTC's plan to auction the 2.1GHz spectrum licences.
AIS recently announced spending Bt2.5 billion on expanding its HSPA service on the 900-megahertz spectrum to an additional 1,884 base stations within the third quarter, on top of the existing 131 bases in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Hua Hin and Chon Buri. The 3G network expansion will be in Bangkok and peripheral provinces, Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chon Buri, Hua Hin, Nakhon Pathom and Phuket.
AIS has provided the 3G service on 900MHz on commercial trial basis with TOT consent. However, AIS might not want to expand the service too aggressively due to the constraints of its spectrum capacity. AIS, which has over 30 million mobile-phone subscribers, set aside only 5MHz bandwidth of the 900MHz spectrum for providing the 3G service.
Total Access Communication has set aside capital expenditure this year of between Bt6 billion and Bt7 billion, which includes the cost of network replacement and the expansion of its HSPA network. It currently provides the 3G-850MHz service via 36 base stations, with CAT's consent, on non-commercial trial basis. CAT's board recently approved DTAC to expand the service to cover 1,220 base stations across the country.
The telecom operators also want to join with TOT to provide the 3G-HSPA on its planned nationwide network. However, it is not known yet when TOT can start the network rollout. The state agency has yet to grant the contracts to the SL consortium, which won its e-auction to procure the 3G network for TOT's plan to rollout the 3G network nationwide. TOT faces allegations by two disqualified bidders that its bid qualification process was unfair to them.
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