3G Internet Thailand News

[Admin]

Thai 3G licences may be delayed to 2010 
Bangkok Post: 30 Jun 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

3G licence issue risks delay to 2010

The issuing of third-generation (3G) licences may be put off to the first quarter of next year by a revised schedule from the Office of the National Telecommunications Commission, which could also set back commercial 3G services to late 2010.

The office is to submit its new plan to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) board for approval.

The potential delay has revived a familiar concern among mobile-phone operators that commercial 3G services will be postponed to late 2010.

The NTC had earlier approved issuing 3G licences by the year-end, while major mobile operators planned to provide 3G commercial services early next year.

But the much-awaited trial auction for 3G licences will now be put back to January, with licences being awarded by the first quarter of next year, said Suranand Wongwittayakamjorn, secretary-general of the Office of National Telecommunications Commission.

Mr Suranand declined to give the base price, terms and conditions for the auctions, but said regulations and policy guidelines should come mid-September.

Wichian Mektrakarn, the president of Advanced Info Service (AIS), said if the NTC further delays issuing 3G licences, AIS faces a loan

commitment fee from banks for keeping open the company's credit line.

AIS applied for 10 billion baht in bank loans to spend on its 3G investment project by the year-end.

"If the issue is delayed a quarter, we will be inevitably charged a commitment fee for three months to continue making available unused loan facilities", he said.

Athueck Asvanund, vice-chairman of True Corporation, said 3G services would be introduced at least six or seven months after a delayed issuing of licences.

But Tore Johnsen, chief executive of second-ranked DTAC, said if 3G has to be delayed to the first quarter, it would not make any significant difference to earlier projections.

"We have no plan to change our 3G outlook now as no significant changes are seen in the whole picture", he said.

[Admin]

DTAC starts limited 3G trial in Bangkok 
Bangkok Post: 1 Sep 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

DTAC starts 3G trial in Bangkok

DTAC yesterday started a 100-million-baht third-generation (3G) wireless broadband trial on its analogue 850 Megahertz frequency in inner Bangkok.

The first phase of the trial only features 18 base stations covering Chulalongkorn University, Pantip Plaza, MBK, Siam Square, Sam Yan and Chamchuri Square. The company has upgraded its analogue 850 MHz to high-speed packet access (HSPA) technology to provide data service at the initial stage.

Another 18 base stations will be set up outside Bangkok by December.

The trial will give 2,000 selected customers free 3G mobile broadband though DTAC aircards for notebook computers. But the company will limit data volume to no more than 5 gigabytes per month.

DTAC 3G has a theoretical top speed of 7.2 Mbps, but would average 5-6 Mbps in reality. Huawei of China supplied the 3G network and aircards.

CEO Tore Johnsen said DTAC is focusing on wireless internet over notebook computers to capitalise on demand for data usage. DTAC saw a 25% increase in data revenue in the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year.

"We believe the real value coming with 3G is its ability to offer consumers a wider and better high-speed internet access, now being limited to fixed-line solutions or WiFi hotspots," he said.

Thailand's broadband penetration is very low at only 2%, compared with 4% in Vietnam, 8% in Malaysia and 24% in Singapore. Thailand is estimated to have only 9-10 million personal computers.

DTAC is likely to build 3G networks on both the analogue 850 MHz and 2100 MHz bandwidths, he said. But budget and business details await clear licensing terms and conditions, as well as a ruling by the public-private joint committee set up under Section 22 of the charter.

DTAC is confident of achieving its cashflow target of 12 billion baht this year following an internal restructuring and cost controls, said Mr Johnsen.

Revenue growth is not necessarily important for DTAC under the current economic situation, he said.

Mr Johnsen expects the mobile industry to only edge up in the fourth quarter and the industry to have only 3-4 million new subscribers this year, compared with 9 million last year.

He denied rumours that Vodafone aims to take over DTAC. The firm has only signed a co-operation agreement with the British operator on international roaming and business solutions, he said.

[MooBaan]

 DTAC works at a slow speed in town ( about 120kbps), I tried it 15 kilo out, and its terrible. Probably too many people on it. I sure hope the story is not just a dream, would be nice. Wonder how many years it will take to actually happen.

[Admin]

Thai 3G auction may be held on Dec 8 
The Nation: 2 Oct 2009
TELECOM LICENSING
3G auction may be held on Dec 8

The national telecom regulator has set December 8 as the tentative date for the auction of four 3G-2.1GH licences, commissioner Sethaborn Cusripituck said yesterday.

A source at the National Telecommunica-tions Commission said the NTC expected to finalise the range of the reserve price for each licence at between US$150 million and $200 million (Bt5 billion-Bt6.7 billion).

The reserve price is the minimum amount the NTC expects to gain from each licence auction.

The watchdog will hold a board meeting next Wednesday to finalise the details, including the auction date, reserve price and bid starting price.

Sethaborn said the board would discuss whether it would reveal the reserve price, and whether the reserve price and the starting bid price should be the same.

The meeting will also see the watchdog finalising the contingency plan in the event of the number of those qualified to bid for the four licences being the same as or lower than the actual number of licences.

The NTC is concerned that if this were to be the case, there would be no genuine competition in the bidding.

Sethaborn said that if this were to happen, the NTC might not inform the qualified bidders of the number of bidders they are contending with. It might also surprise them by putting up fewer than four licences in the auction, in order to promote competition.

NTC secretary-general Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn said investors from India, Malaysia and Indonesia had asked the NTC for details of the auction, but he declined to specify their names.

NTC member Sudharma Yoonaidharma said he was opposed to holding the 3G licence auction so soon, as the national regulator had yet to come up with much crucial information for potential bidders.

He said that before the auction, the NTC should provide a comprehensive map of the details of all telecom networks in Thailand, so that those who are not current operators could clearly ascertain where they could roll out networks should they be awarded a licence.

He added that the NTC auction plan seemed to favour incumbent operators. Moreover, it seems the NTC's granting of the 3G licences has been publicly perceived as a way for the private telecom concession holders to move customers from the concessions to the 3G licences in order to reduce their costs.

The private mobile-phone concession holders have to pay an average of 20 per cent of their revenue to one of the state concession owners, TOT and CAT Telecom. A 3G licence, however, is expected to cost them 6 per cent of their revenue per year.

Sudharma said he wanted to see Thai companies having a chance to win or share in the benefits from the 3G licences. He stressed that he did not mean True Corp, as True is a giant Thai telecom operator, but rather the smaller domestic companies.

In the NTC's public hearing on 3G licence and auction conditions this past Monday, True strongly opposed many points, including licences being granted via the auction process, citing that the method favoured large companies over smaller operators.

Senator Anan Woratitipong yesterday said the 3G licence auction would stimulate economic growth, given that it would lead to huge investment by bid winners in terms of licence payment and then network roll-out, which would create jobs.

Anan does not expect the auction bidding to rise too high.

The NTC, which marked its fifth anniversary yesterday, has invited Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to give a speech on Monday on the role of the independent regulator in the country's development.

Meanwhile, the watchdog returns money to the state coffers every year after deducting expenses from the regulatory fees it collects.

NTC deputy-secretary-general Takorn Tantansit said it had returned Bt158 million in the first year of establishment, Bt839 million in the second year, Bt795 million in the third and Bt2.6 billion last year.

It is expected to return Bt1.3 billion to the government this year.

[Admin]

ICT Minister puts brakes on Thai 3G 
Bangkok Post: 5 Oct 2009
Minister puts brakes on 3G
Foreigners favoured, TOT and CAT suffer

The long-delayed auction of third-generation (3G) mobile broadband licences scheduled for mid-December could be put on hold indefinitely if Ranongruk Suwunchwee has her way.

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) minister wants the auction put off as long as possible, reasoning that the conditions deter state telecom enterprises and favour foreign players.

"These conditions discourage TOT and CAT Telecom but pave the way for foreign players to freely bid and grab our national resources," Mrs Ranongruk said after meeting executives of both state telecoms over the weekend.

She said the 3G draft terms from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) state that a qualified bidder must be a Thai entity or have foreign partners holding not more than 49% under the Telecom Business Law. Bidders must possess spectrum in the range from 1.9 to 2.1 Gigahertz.

The minister said that the TOT subsidiary Thai Mobile owned the 1.9 GHz spectrum and planned to launch the first phase of its 3G services in December with 500 base stations. TOT is also planning to invest 20 billion baht for a nationwide network.

CAT Telecom, she said, was disqualified under the current 3G auction rules because it has the Finance Ministry as a major shareholder, the same as TOT.

Mrs Ranongruk said she would outline her views today to the NTC, which plans an event to celebrate its fifth anniversary, at which Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is to be a guest speaker.

She warned both TOT and CAT Telecom could go bankrupt if 3G licences are awarded under the current conditions.

Telecom analysts say private operators could form new entities to bid for 3G licences, and then shift their existing customers to the new 3G services. This would allow them to reduce the revenue-sharing payments that are the financial lifeblood of the concession owners, TOT and CAT.

TOT chairman Teerawut Boonyasophon said that since TOT and CAT contributed large sums of their concession revenue to government coffers, the NTC should not think only of the money it could make from foreign bidders alone.

But NTC chairman Gen Choochart Promprasit insisted the regulator could not put off the auction because it was its duty under the Telecom Business Law.

He also said that the Council of State had offered a legal interpretation that the NTC could allocate frequency since the National Broadcasting Commission, which is supposed to have that duty, has never been formed.

However, if the cabinet asked the NTC to put off the auction, its board would have to consider the matter seriously, he acknowledged.

Advanced Info Service chief executive Wichien Mektrakarn said that what Mrs Ranongruk was doing was inappropriate and was interfering with the industry's growth.

He said TOT had 3G spectrum long before any other operator but had failed to add value to the resource, and that CAT Telecom also had a CDMA service that could be developed into 3G. "It would be very ugly if the ICT minister does as she plans," he said.

"As private operators, we might have to team up against it."

True Corp, however, also opposes the current 3G auction terms because it says they favour its two rivals, AIS and DTAC, which have foreign partners while True is Thai-owned.

www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/25065/minister-puts-brakes-on-3g

[lahansai]

3G ??!!!!!  Try to get a decent internet connection in Lahan sai remote village. 

[Admin]

Thai 3G starting bid prices $100-200m 
Bangkok Post: 12 Oct 2009
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/25480/3g-starting-bid-prices-100-200m

3G starting bid prices $100-200m

Writer: KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

The minimum reserve prices for 3G mobile broadband spectrum have been set in the range of US$100-200 million (3.3 to 6.6 billion baht) by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Gen Choochart Promprasit, the chairman of the industry regulator, said the prices would be submitted to the NTC board for approval on Wednesday along with the draft 3G auction rules and comments by the prime minister.

He said the prices were considered thoroughly based on several criteria. These included industry data, auction prices in other countries, prices of spectrum that TOT had returned to the NTC, and prices of the 1900 MHz spectrum that TOT bought from CAT Telecom for the Thai Mobile service.

He said the auctions would be for four licences for a total of 45 MHz. Three licences would be for 10 MHz each and one for 15 MHz spectrum, which would have a higher minimum reserve price.

Gen Choochart said the NTC would call another public hearing on Oct 29 to respond to questions industry executives raised at the first session on Sept 28.

He insisted that the six-member NTC board still had the authority work on policy matters although three of them had drawn lots to quit two years ago but their replacements were never named.

True Corp vice-chairman Athueck Asvanont said that his company's board had discussed the 3G auction and how it could prepare for it.

He said True wanted changes in the draft auction rules, in particular calling on the NTC not to focus merely on the money it could earn, and not to discourage Thai-controlled companies.

Mr Athueck said it was important that companies such as True could compete fairly with larger rivals with major "foreign state" shareholders.

The comment was a reference to top-ranked Advanced Info service, which has Singapore's Temasek Holdings as a major shareholder, and second-ranked DTAC, controlled by Telenor of Norway.

He said True suggested that qualified bidders should be companies in which foreign firms held shares via investment funds but had no voting rights.

Another option was to allow Thai companies to possess 3G spectrum at more than half of the allocated amount.

[Admin]

PM wants answers on Thailand 3G auction 
Bangkok Post: 15 Oct 2009
www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/25621/abhisit-presses-for-answers-on-3g-auction

Abhisit presses for answers on 3G auction


Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has increased the political pressure on the National Telecommunications Commission over the 3G mobile service by demanding it answer the questions he has posed over the planned auction of licences.

Mr Abhisit has insisted the bidding for the service be fair, transparent and non-discriminatory towards the state telecommunications companies.

Meanwhile, the parliament's human rights protection committee has pledged to scrutinise the NTC and its authority to call the auction.

The prime minister repeated his demands at a meeting of his economic ministers at Government House yesterday. At the same time, the labour unions of CAT Telecom and TOT Plc rallied with posters opposing the NTC's auction of the 3G licences in December.

While telling his economic ministers that the auction was within the authority of the NTC, Mr Abhisit said the regulatory body should give clear explanations to the questions which he had raised earlier.

At its fifth anniversary celebration, he had told the NTC to ensure the auction would be fair, transparent and that CAT and TOT should not be disadvantaged when entering bids.

He voiced concern that foreign investors with formidable capital would win the licences, especially if the highest bid price was the ultimate goal of the NTC. That would mean higher costs which would have to be passed on to consumers in the form of expensive services.

He said the NTC had to ensure foreign investors did not have an advantage over Thai companies with limited funds.

At yesterday's meeting, Mr Abhisit said existing mobile companies operate under different concessions and different rules. But now they will have to compete in a free and open market and the NTC needed to ensure free and fair competition in the auction.

The economic ministers agreed to the planned auction but advised both TOT and CAT to adjust their strategies to be ready for competition.

Prime Minister's Office assistant minister Putthipong Punnakan said Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij had advised both state telecoms to adjust for new competition with a promise to give them financial support if they have problems.

Outside Government House, the CAT and TOT unions gathered to oppose the planned auction.

Union leaders Pongthiti Pongsilamanee from CAT and Sukhum Chuenmanow from TOT later went to parliament and submitted a protest letter to the Human Rights Committee chairman Somchai Sawaengkarn.

The unions said the auction breached Article 47 of the constitution which has not listed the NTC as an independent organisation. The letter said the NTC now had only three sitting members from the original seven and therefore lacked a quorum under Article 50 of the Frequency Allocation Law.

It questioned the hastiness of the NTC to call the auction as the unions felt it was not ready.

The unions said a significant point was that the National Broadcasting Commission had not yet been formed, meaning there was no joint committee to allocate frequencies.

[Admin]

 
DTAC: 3G delays hit confidence
Published: 17/10/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business

DTAC has warned that any further delays in 3G licence auctions could deter foreign investment and undermine the credibility of government policy.

If the government changes the way it treats foreign investors, it could damage the investment environment, said Tore Johnsen, CEO of the country's second-largest mobile operator.

But he expects a delay to be only of weeks or months, and said DTAC is confident of winning a licence. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) hopes to award four 3G licences by the year-end - three for 10 MHz and one for 15 MHz.

Mr Johnsen argued that the reserve price for a 3G licence should be between 2 billion and 4 billion baht, not the 10 billion set by the NTC. "The price is unreasonably high and tarnishes free and fair competition rules," he said.

He also suggested the NTC change the payment terms for 3G licences from a lump-sum to only half of the fee first and then installments over 10 years or over the whole life of the concession.

"This will give TOT and CAT Telcom a revenue stream on a yearly basis, while easing private operators' financial burden," he said, referring to state telecom enterprises that rely heavily on concession revenues from private operators.

Mr Johnsen rejected concerns that private operators might migrate their customers from the current concession-based companies to avoid sharing revenue with the state enterprises.

He said 3G was considered a supplementary service and firms could not force customers to move from voice-based service to mobile data numbers.

3G would take some time for the market to fully take up given the time for network rollout and the full availability of 3G handsets and devices, he added.

"TOT and CAT would only face a drop in revenues on a gradual basis, not a zero amount," he said. Private operators would still need to use existing 2G networks, which means the two state enterprises could earn new revenue from infrastructure rental fees under the build-transfer-operate contracts, he added.

The two state enterprises should adjust their business direction and prepare to face a new regulatory system, he said.

Mr Johnsen urged all parties to recognise that consumers, businesses and the country would benefit from 3G because the communication infrastructure would be faster and more efficient.

Commenting on concerns that "foreign state companies" - as rival True Move terms the shareholders of DTAC and top-ranked AIS - could threaten national security, he said he saw no regulatory difference between the existing 2G and 3G.

While Telenor, DTAC's major shareholder, is a state enterprise of Norway, the company is a passive shareholder in DTAC and the Norwegian government is not involved in the company's business activity, he said. "There should be nothing to be concerned about since Norway has only 4 million people."

DTAC is in compliance with foreign shareholding rules, and he sees no need to adjust its shareholding structure to respond to speculation, he said.

In his view, only one or two foreign companies will participate in the 3G bid given the 100% penetration rate of mobile phones, unclear regulations, a potentially troublesome 3G bid process, and unclear definitions the roles of TOT and CAT. A foreign company without a 2G operation in Thailand would also be at a disadvantage, he said.

DTAC shares closed yesterday on the SET at 40 baht, up 2.50, in trade worth 473 million baht.

[Admin]

Thailand 3G auction date now in doubt 
Bangkok Post: 20 Oct 2009
www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/25897/3g-auction-date-now-in-doubt

3G auction date now in doubt

Writer: KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

The National Telecommunications Commission now says that staging a 3G licence auction in December is less of a priority than ensuring that the rules are clear so that the auction will be a success.

Gen Choochart Promprasit, the chairman of the telecom regulator, said the priority now was making sure the auction rules are ready in December.

He said the NTC needed to prepare itself to allocate spectrum for the highly anticipated mobile broadband services instead of dealing with a national debate.

The NTC anticipated pressure as the auction neared, he acknowledged.

The regulator has faced criticism in recent weeks for rules that appeared to favour deep-pocketed foreign entities over locally owned telecom companies and the two state enterprises, TOT and CAT Telecom.

Part of the problem, Gen Choochart said, stemmed from the complicated original structure of the telecom industry, particularly the concessions of each operator, which differed in terms of revenue sharing, and the varying financial strength of the operators.

He also believes the regulator is facing pressure to make the 3G licences cheaper, but says lowering the price any further is impossible. The NTC has proposed starting bid prices of 10 billion baht.

He said another public hearing on the auction rules was scheduled for Nov 5. The NTC will present the finished draft to the public, and it will also cover national security concerns and the financial impact on both TOT and CAT from the expected loss of their concession revenues.

Nominees holding stakes beyond the official ceiling for foreign state enterprises will also be discussed.

After the Nov 5 hearing, the NTC will conduct a focus group meeting with top executives of TOT, CAT, mobile phone operators and the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to reach an agreement and complete the final draft before making it an official rule.

He said the NTC could not set an exact date for the auction but would like to have the rules completed by December.

TOT should not look at only one issue regarding 3G licences because private operators could not move their customers out of a network immediately. Migration to a 3G network takes time and might finish after their concessions expire, he said.

[swimming pizza]

that will take long....................................... I'll be happy with only 1G 

[Admin]

Compromise on Thai 3G, more confusion 
Bangkok Post: 28 Oct 2009
OPEN Thought
Compromise just causes more confusion

www.bangkokpost.com/tech/technews/26432/compromise-just-causes-more-confusion

Writer: Don Sambandaraksa

The recent clarification by the Cabinet of Ministers over the 3G auction has only added further uncertainty to our already troubled telecommunications sector. It was a fudge, a compromise and one which failed to address the real issue at hand: the future of state enterprises CAT Telecom and ToT Corporation and whether the sector is best served in the hands of the free market of the state.

The economic cabinet meeting gave a green light to the 3G auction but raised four areas of concern: To take into account the 3G plans that CAT and ToT already have; that it must be made clear that the infrastructure should be new and not part of the 2G infrastructure that is soon to be handed back to the state; national security must be considered and the NTC should not simply focus at getting the highest bid but must look at the greater good.

In one way or another, all four points tie back to the current web of a concession contract that we have between the mobile operators and their concession owners, CAT Telecom (DTac and TrueMove) and ToT Corporation (AIS).

When the concessions were given out back in the early 90s, there was no independent regulator, the function being in the hands of the Post and Telegraph Department, while the Communications Authority of Thailand and the Telephone Organisation of Thailand were state enterprises. The concessions have a revenue-share model in which the percentage would be ramped up as the concession progressed. Now it is at 25 percent and soon will go up to 30 before ending in six to nine years' time, depending on when the concession was signed.

Therein lies the problem. CAT and ToT are acting as tax collectors, but they are allowed to use the money first for their own network expansion to sort-of compete with their concessionaires before handing back the rest to their shareholder, the Ministry of Finance. Over the years, both state enterprises have used this semi-independence to their advantage. When the ICT Ministry gets too involved through policy, they argue they are owned by the Ministry of Finance and answer to their shareholders as any public company must. When the shareholder wants more dividend payout, they say that they are a state organ under the ICT Ministry and have to invest for the public good.

This duality recently hit home with ToT's stance against the 3G auction. ToT wants in on a postponed auction and its union actually wants it called off, saying that the NTC has no legal standing under the 2007 constitution, which calls for a converged NBTC (broadcasting and telecommunications), but the reason it cites is interesting.

At a recent seminar on regulation, ToT Executive Vice-President Kittipong Tameyapradit defended the move as protecting the country's interests. He argued that with AIS paying 12 billion baht a year and with six years left on the concession agreement, a 3G licence would cause them to move all their customers to 3G in order to avoid paying the revenue share and instead pay just 6 percent to the NTC. This would cost the country 72 billion baht in lost revenue.

Another example is DTac's 3G adventure. DTac was the first to move to 3G by telling its concession holder, CAT, that it would be performing a network upgrade from AMPS to HSPA on 850 MHz. Rather than just acknowledge the upgrade, CAT said it had to run as a virtual network over CAT's network and imposed many conditions such as having CAT as a termination point for calls and using it for international calls. DTac CEO Tore Johnsen said his relationship with CAT should have been that of a leasing company and a car that one drives as long as the leasing company is paid it should not have any say on how the car is used. Obviously CAT interpreted the contract differently.

So are ToT and CAT government organs that help to regulate the industry and act as collectors of tax or are they merely operators soon to be spun off to be independent and fend for themselves? Nobody seems to want to decide.

It has often been said that privatisation is not inherently bad, rather it is botched privatisation that is bad, where roles are unclear and state monopoly is simply transferred to a private one. This could not be more true here. The roles of CAT and ToT are not well defined; one moment they are told to find a market niche and fend for themselves, the other they are being told by their political masters what they can and cannot do. As a collector of tax, they are not doing a particularly efficient job, running up huge losses in their operations that have to be offset against the revenue share in order to hand back the spare change to the Finance Ministry. As an operator, well, when did Thai Mobile or the Hutchinson CAT CDMA joint venture make the headlines in a positive way?

Universal Service Obligation (USO) is another issue. CAT and ToT contribute to a USO fund and then run projects that help the underserved in rural areas. At least that's the idea. In practice, it's little more than extra publicity.

CAT launched a CDMA EV-DO cell in Mae Lana in the far north, near the Burmese border. That might have been a good idea if AIS had not put up a gleaming cellsite already in the middle of the village to provide much better coverage that the EV-DO cell that was in the roof of the village school. Why? Well, apparently the project was badly delayed as CAT cannot build on land which does not have proper documentation and little of the land in the rural areas that USO is supposed to serve has that.

Another was the NTC's own WiMAX pilot project with TT&T, again in the far north in Chiang Rai. 'WiMAX comes to Thailand' is the headline they wanted. Unfortunately it was just two WiMAX cells, one with four schools and the other with just one. The cost of the plane tickets of journalists and executives flown up to attend the launch could have easily paid for the schools to be wired up conventionally.

The continued existence of the state enterprises in some sort of limbo, neither public or private, neither dead nor alive, serves only to distort the industry and create inefficiencies in the system. As cities are saturated, USO projects are nary needed as operators need to go further and further to find new users, at least if they have a long enough contract with a level of certainty.

With the contracts coming to an end and the operations soon to be handed back to CAT and ToT, which operator in their right mind would continue investing in their network, both for expansion and capacity and technology upgrades? By forbidding new 3G to piggyback on 2G backhaul network infrastructure, it may create a level playing field, but at what cost and what waste? Modern equipment can be changed from 2G to 3G to WiMAX or even LTE with just a swap of the last box, aerial and a software reconfiguration.

It has been said that in any long-term concession, the last five years are the worst and Thailand's 2G telecommunications sector is about to hit those last five years soon. Running a mobile network, unlike a TV broadcasting station, needs continuous investment, not just one big bang at the start.

But the government is not going to change things. It lacks the political will to drag up an ugly situation. Even if they had the competence, former state enterprises cannot survive in a free market as they are burdened with huge amounts of debt. Some of that debt is kosher, but much of it was piled on them just to make the government books look better as debt belonging to a company is not sovereign debt.

In an ideal world, the government would simply take on the debt and fully privatise the telcos, returning power to the regulator in the process and generating clarity for all. But it is not something that they can afford to do, politically or financially.
Together, CAT and ToT take in almost five percent of the exchequer's annual budget.
How long has Thailand suffered lack of infrastructure because of this mess? How much has that cost Thailand in terms of lost productivity and opportunity?

[Admin]

Thai ICT Minister: TOT 3G to proceed 
: 10 Nov 2009
ICT minister vows TOT will proceed with 3G roll-out
By Sirivish Toomgum

Information and Communications Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee yesterday said TOT would push ahead with its third-generation wireless broadband projects.

This was despite recent suggestions it wait for the telecom regulator's rules for the upcoming 3G auction.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has yet to finalise its rules to auction off four 3G 2.1-gigahertz licences, nor has it cleared any possible legal obstacles to its authority to grant them.

Ranongruk insisted the ICT Ministry had final authority over TOT's plan.

State-owned TOT is scheduled to kick off its 3G 2.1GHz wireless broadband service on December 3 on its existing network in the greater Bangkok area.

It also plans to roll out its new 3G 2.1GHz network nationwide, with 3,800 base stations.

Ranongruk said TOT's 3G-network roll-out had nothing to do with the NTC's plan to auction the 3G licences and that the two issues should not be mixed together.

The NTC role is to grant the spectrum licences, but TOT already has its own 3G spectrum.

"We will not stop. We have our own clear stance, so TOT will move ahead with its 3G plan, because it already has a 3G-network business plan," Ranongruk said, adding that the project was consistent with government policy on national telecom development and widespread access to services.

Initially, TOT was to spend Bt29 billion on the network, but this was scaled down to Bt20 billion. Once operational, the network will be leased on a wholesale basis to telecom operators, so they can provide services.

TOT finished the terms of reference to procure the 3G network equipment for its new 3G network nationwide roll-out. It will invite interested firms to buy the bid documents at the end of this month, with bidding to be finished next April.

The complete network roll-out will take two years.

Meanwhile, Policy Watch, a group founded by lecturers at Thammasat University's Faculty of Economics to monitor government policies, proposed the NTC make sure its planned 3G-licence auction bring maximum benefit to consumers.

It also proposed if 3G operators migrate customers from the state concessions to their 3G licences, they be subject to excise tax, with the amount equal to their concession fee.

That would discourage them from migrating customers from concessions to 3G licences if they can obtain a licence from the NTC.

Many parties have opposed the NTC's 3G licensing on the grounds the licences would pave the way for private mobile concessions to migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, in order to save on regulatory costs. Their concession fees average 25 per cent of their revenue, while the annual licence fee would cost them only 6.5 per cent.

Policy Watch also proposed the NTC wait for the Senate to appoint four new NTC commissioners before holding the auction.

[Admin]

Private operators: TOT 3G too cheap 
Bangkok Post: 7 Dec 2009
Private operators claim TOT charging too little for 3G


Private telecom operators say that TOT Plc is charging unrealistically low fees for its new 3G mobile services, which do not reflect the large investment required.

The state telecom enterprise's pricing strategy is likely to hurt the overall industry and the country as taxpayers' money is involved, the private operators say.

Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), the private companies that provide the service for TOT, are also crying foul over its fixed-rate promotions that offer them low returns.

TOT on Thursday launched its 3G mobile broadband service in Bangkok and surrounding areas, initially through 548 base stations.

It offers postpaid promotional campaigns starting at 199 baht per month for 199 minutes of voice and video calls, plus 199 megabytes of data usage. For the highest tariff plan, customers pay 699 baht per month for 699 minutes of voice and video calls each, plus 1,000 MB of data usage.

TOT has a nationwide network roaming agreement with Advanced Info Service for 12 months. AIS will charge TOT 1.10 baht a minute for calls that TOT customers make to AIS subscribers, and 2.10 baht a minute for calls TOT users make to the DTAC and True Move networks.

"This clearly provides evidence that TOT is subsidising its 3G service and making a loss. It is putting taxpayers' money at risk," said an industry executive who asked not to be named.

The executive said he understood that TOT needed to cut prices to attract customers due to the limited commercial value of the new 3G service. But he asked whether the Finance Ministry needed to shoulder any further possible loss for TOT.

Even though mobile operators are expected to see some initial impact from TOT jump-starting 3G, the source believed the existing low rates would end once TOT stages a full commercial launch nationwide.

Another executive expressed concern that the TOT tariffs might set an industry benchmark for high-speed broadband internet prices and ignite a price war.

One MVNO company executive wants TOT to allow operators to set their own rates, instead of forcing them to follow its tariff plans.

"Though we [MVNO] had no costs in building the network, we have expenses from other operating services that need to be recovered," he said, adding that "3G should be a matter of high quality of speed and services, not cheap prices."


www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/28812/private-operators-claim-tot-charging-too-little-for-3g

[Admin]

Thai PM wants 3G plan completed 
: 15 Dec 2009
3G plan completed in 6 months: PM

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday instructed the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to complete plans for TOT's 3G service and for concession conversion within six months.

He also advised the ICT Ministry to overhaul the operations of CAT Telecom and TOT, the two state telecom enterprises under the ministry, to improve their performances.

He wants to see the 3G service offered in the country.

But TOT has to have a clear vision on how to proceed with 3G if it wants to limit its role to providing the 3G network on a wholesale basis, or providing both the network service and a retail 3G cellular service.

TOT also should wait for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to finalise the auction rules for the 3G-2.1GHz licences before moving ahead with its plan to roll out a nationwide 3G network, he said.

This is to prevent a possible conflict between the NTC's auction rules and TOT's 3G business direction.

TOT already launched its own retail 3G-2.1GHz service on December 3 - but only covering Greater Bangkok - over its old 2G network, which has been upgraded to 3G.

It is marketing the new high-speed service to its 20,000 staff and the 10,000 customers of Thai Mobile, its cellular service subsidiary.

It has also appointed five companies to market their 3G services to the public using its network.

TOT is seeking approval for its plan to roll out a brand-new 3G network nationwide at a cost of Bt20 billion.

Abhisit told the ICT Ministry to come up with a clear plan to deal with the amendments of some telecom concessions under CAT and TOT over the past years, which did not follow the Public-Private Joint Venture Act of 1992.

The ministry also has to come up with a clear plan for concession conversion.

ICT Minister Ranongrak Suwanchawee said his ministry was also expected to finalise by next month a plan to deal with the ending of the service life of the Thaicom 2 satellite next year.

The ministry has studied three options - granting a new satellite concession to a new service provider, asking Thaicom to build a replacement satellite or allowing Thaicom to lease a foreign satellite to continue providing the service.