Fibre-optic rolled out in Phuket by TOT

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Fibre-optic rolled out in Phuket by TOT 
The Nation: 30 Dec 2009
TOT rolls out fibre-optic in Phuket
By PHUKET GAZETTE/The Nation


TOT has launched a fibre-optic Internet service in Phuket. Starting at Bt8,600 per month, the long-awaited Fibre To You service offers Internet speeds of 10-20 megabits per second.

TOT president Varut Suvakorn said the state-owned company had invested Bt200 million to install its "fibre to the x" (FTTx) network in selected parts in each of Phuket's three districts: Muang, Kathu and Thalang.

The service will connect to 3,200 ports initially, but can be expanded to 20,000. About 100 hotels and expatriates have already expressed interest in installing Fibre To You, Varut said.

The venture will bring in annual revenues of Bt30million-Bt50 million with annual growth of 10-20 per cent, he estimates.

TOT plans to recoup its capital investment in three years and seven months.

Services offered will include high-speed Internet as well as other applications such as VoIP, Live TV and video on demand. Phuket's large expat community is the major target group.

"Fibre [optic cables] can increase the service speed to more than 100 megabits per second. TOT will work on building knowledge among consumers about the difference in quality when compared to ADSL. IT and software businesses based in Phuket can take full advantage of the new service and be completely confident in its stability," Varut said.

Varut said the industrial estates of the Eastern Seaboard and cities including Hua Hin would be the next area for the roll-out of Fibre To You services, with work starting in the first quarter of next year.

TOT will market Fibre To You service directly and indirectly, by leasing network access to outside vendors.

To meet the increased bandwidth requirements, TOT will expand its international gateway and rent additional bandwidth from CAT Telecom.

TOT currently has about 50,000 broadband Internet customers in Phuket and hopes many of these will switch to the new fibre-optic service.

However, local computer guru Woody Leonhard, who attended the TOT launch party at Royal Phuket Marina on Sunday, was sceptical.

Users in Patong, paying Bt10,000 a month for the service, were finding connection speeds "not very fast", with international connections typically around 3.5Mbps per second, a far cry from the 1 gigabit per second touted when work on the project began, he said.