TOT to finalise plans next year on concession expiry
TOT will conclude next year its plan to deal with possible |declining revenue from the effect of the 2010 Frequency Allocation Act and the approaching ends of its private telecom concession terms, according to the state agency's president Anont Tubtiang.
He said the keys to maintaining TOT's financial health included seeking a strong business partnership for its broadband Internet services, including its third-generation wireless service.
The Frequency Allocation Act obliges both TOT and CAT Telecom to transfer all concession revenue to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission three years after implementation of the frequency law, which took effect last year. The NBTC will then pass TOT's and CAT's concession revenues to state coffers.
Recently CAT said it expected to post a loss of Bt2 billion in 2014, when it has to transfer its concession revenue to the NBTC. CAT has pinned its hope on its 3G and fixed-line broadband services to shore up its revenue after that time.
For TOT, the concession term of Advanced Info Service will end in 2015. AIS concession fees account for about 40 per cent of TOT's annual revenue of more than Bt50 billion.
Anont declined to say whether TOT would sell AIS's network assets back to the company when its concession ends.
CAT is in talks with its concession holder TrueMove on selling that operator's network assets back to it after its concession ends in 2013.
All concession holders have to transfer their network assets to TOT or CAT under the build-transfer-operate arrangement after expiry.
Anont has insisted that TOT will be able to complete the establishment of its 3G network in 18 provinces this November and nationwide by next May as planned. He denied a report that the state agency had moved at a snail's pace on setting up the network after finishing the bid to procure the equipment for the network in January.
Currently TOT's 3G network in Greater Bangkok, which debuted in December 2009, has about 300,000 customers.
Anont said he was not worried about the fierce competition in the 3G market, given that TOT is currently the only provider of the service on the global-standard 2.1-gigahertz spectrum.
AIS offers its 3G service on the 900-megahertz spectrum, while Total Access Communication (DTAC), Real Move and CAT all offer theirs on 800MHz.
Regarding the government's plan to promote free public Wi-Fi service in major locations nationwide, Anont said TOT was ready to support the service with its nationwide telecom network.
He added that TOT would likely launch free Wi-Fi under the Information and Communication Technology Ministry's policy in October, using its own corporate social responsibility fund.
