True 3G roll-out on track
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True Corp's roll-out of its 3G network is progressing despite the flooding, chief executive officer Supachai Chearavanont said yesterday.
He added that the network was providing a channel for customers to access important information quickly, especially regarding the floods.
BFKT (Thailand), a subsidiary of Real Future, a firm wholly owned by True, has procured equipment for a third-generation wireless broadband network using HSPA (high-speed packet access) technology for CAT Telecom, which will wholesale network capacity to interested firms. Another True subsidiary, Real Move, has leased such 3G capacity from CAT to provide the service.
CAT will establish 5,326 3G base stations nationwide this year, of which 3,000 have already been set up. True Corp chief financial officer Noppadol Dej-udom said he could not yet specify whether the flooding would affect the group’s revenue, as it can claim compensation from insurance, which covers revenue loss from disaster-related network disruption.
About 50,000 subscribers, or 5 per cent of True’s broadband Internet customers, have been affected by the floods. But the firm’s mobile-phone service has hardly been affected.
Supachai said True was still keen to bid for a licence from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to use the 2.1-
gigahertz spectrum to provide 3G service.
