CAT to launch My 3G service formally on January 10
CAT Telecom will formally splash out its My 3G retail service on January 10 in more than 30 provinces with the aim of acquiring 600,000 subscribers next year, up from about 2,000 currently.
CAT’s board yesterday approved a capital-expenditure budget of Bt20 billion for 2012-16, of which Bt12 billion is for installing transmission and telecommunication facilities to support its third-generation wholesale-retail business. About US$10 million (Bt318 million) will be poured into the laying of a submarine cable in the Asia-Pacific region.
Viroj Tocharoenvanith, the acting chief executive officer, said the My service would be provided on more than 3,000 base stations – 1,700 in Bangkok and the rest in |the 30 provinces – then expanded to 13,000 stations nationwide next |year to cover 90 per cent of the|population.
BFKT (Thailand) of True Corp group has installed the 3G network equipment using HSPA (high-speed packet access) technology for CAT to wholesale and retail the service. CAT has retailed the service under the My brand with the focus on corporate customers.
The state enterprise is wholesaling 3G capacity to Real Move, which is also a True subsidiary. Real Move is providing its service under the TrueMove H brand.
CAT is ahead of its original schedule of 4,500 base stations within three years, as it already has about 3,000 in the first year of its agreement with BFKT.
CAT hopes this wholesale-retail 3G service generates substantial revenue before it loses some revenue when the concessions it granted to TrueMove and Digital Phone Co come to an end in 2013.
It has already requested 500,000 phone numbers from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) for the My service and will request more numbers for Real Move to resell its service. Earlier CAT requested 5 million numbers for Real Move, but the NBTC allocated only 3.5 million.
Real Move targets 4 million customers next year, up from about 700,000 at present.
If the NBTC declines the request for phone numbers for Real Move, CAT might allocate part of its 2 million idle phone numbers for its CDMA (code division multiple access) cellular service to Real Move, Viroj said.
The board also approved staff bonuses equivalent to 3.8-3.9 months of salaries as well as a Bt50,000 grant to each of 2,500 staff to repair their flood-hit homes.
