True eyes Bt10 bn revenue from broadband service this year

<p> &nbsp;</p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">True Online, which offers Internet and related services, posted revenue of Bt13.2 billion in the first half, of which Bt5.126 billion was from broadband. It had 1.254 million broadband subscribers as of the second quarter. </span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">True Online managing director Vichaow Rakphongphairoj said revenue from its broadband service alone was expected to pass Bt10 billion by the end of the year, while the number of broadband subscribers would surge to about 1.4 million. This does not include the Wi-Fi subscribers, whose numbers are expected to reach about a million, from 714,000 as of the first half of the year.</span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">True Online claims that it had 35-per-cent market share in terms of subscriber numbers in the second quarter, the same share as TOT.</span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">The three major broadband Internet service providers are True, TOT and Triple T Broadband.</span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">True Online is expanding its broadband Internet network to cover 27 provinces by the end of the year from the present 16 and will expand its Wi-Fi network to about 100,000 spots nationwide from the present total of about 40,000. </span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">It has also launched fibre-optic-based broadband Internet service with maximum connection speed of 100 megabits per second to home users in some upscale villages after previously launching the service to corporate customers.</span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">Vichaow said consumers required higher and higher connection speeds.</span></p> <p> <span lang=\"EN-GB\">Recently Triple T Broadband of Jasmine International disclosed that it was targeting about 2 million broadband subscribers by 2013, double the number estimated by the end of this year. It currently has more than 900,000 subscribers, up from about 794,000 at the end of last year. </span></p>