TOT board eyes subsidiary plan
TOT's board today will consider the state agency's plan to set up three committees, each responsible for forming a subsidiary related to telecom network rental.
The three new units will respectively manage and rent the telecom network and transmission network, and develop applications.
The move is part of TOT’s plan to generate new revenue by utilising its own existing networks and those to be transferred to it by its private concession holders.
After the concessions end, all private concession holders will have to transfer their network assets to their concession owners, either TOT or CAT Telecom, under build-transfer-operate arrangements.
The three new subsidiaries are expected to be established by year-end, TOT chairman Panthep Chamrasromran said yesterday.
TOT’s main concessions include that of Advanced Info Service, the largest cellular operator in terms of subscription base. The company’s concession ends in late 2015.
Panthep said TOT was also mapping the locations of all 300,000 of its telecom towers nationwide as part of a plan to deploy them to support the second-phase roll-out of its third-generation network nationwide.
It is working on the second-phase plan, which is expected to be submitted for the National Economic and Social Development Board’s consideration next month.
TOT initially aimed to have about 5,200 base stations completed by the end of this month, but only some 3,000 stations are ready at this stage.
Meanwhile, the state agency yesterday unveiled its IT incubator centre, which will provide software development knowledge and information-technology training to its own staff as well as non-TOT people.
The goal is for the centre to develop |applications for TOT’s 3G service and to bring the agency new application business opportunities.
