DTAC committed to retaining market share, CEO says
THE COUNTRY’S second-largest cellular operator Total Access Communication (DTAC) will fight hard to maintain its position, said chief executive officer Lars Norling.
He said the company had a strong bandwidth portfolio totalling 50 megahertz, consisting of 15MHz on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, 10MHz on 850MHz and 25MHz on 1,800MHz. The latter two were granted under a CAT Telecom concession that will expire in late 2018.
Moreover, DTAC is in talks with CAT on the possibility of jointly utilising the state agency’s idle 20MHz on the 1,800MHz spectrum to offer fourth-generation service.
One of DTAC’s targets this year is to stabilise market share, currently at 28 per cent of revenue.
DTAC has declined to take part in the re-auction of a forfeited 900MHz licence this Friday. To ensure sustainable growth, it has every intention of securing sufficient bandwidth in future auctions to serve growing data demand.
As competition in the wireless broadband market gets tougher, Advanced Info Service is set to grab a 900MHz licence, totalling 10MHz bandwidth, in the auction on Friday as its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network is now the only bidder.
AIS currently holds 15MHz of the 2.1GHz spectrum and 15MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum, both under National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission licences.
It is in the process of signing several deals with TOT as part of a planned partnership to offer 3G service on the state agency’s 15MHz on the 2.1GHz band.
True Corp boasts a total of 55MHz bandwidth, comprising 15MHz of the 2.1GHz spectrum, 15MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum, and 10MHz of the 900MHz spectrum.
It has also formed a partnership with CAT to offer 3G service on 15MHz of CAT’s 850MHz spectrum.
DTAC had around 25.5 million subscribers, of whom 3.1 million are on its 4G network, 20 million on 3G, and the rest on 2G.
Norling said he expected telecom-industry revenue this year to grow by 3 per cent.
According to its filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand recently, DTAC expected its service revenue this year, excluding interconnection charges, to be in the range of a flat to slight increase from last year.
Meanwhile, DTAC has taken another step in its plan to become the leading digital organisation and employer of choice by fostering the start-up spirit and create “intrapreneurship” among employees.
