TOTokays SIM-PLUS bid for 40% of 3G network capacity
TOT's board yesterday approved a bid from Samart i-Mobile Plus (SIM Plus) to procure 40 per cent of its 3G network capacity for providing the service.
Meanwhile, Loxley is in talks with TOT for a possible deal to procure 20 per cent of TOT’s 3G network capacity.
Board chairman Panthep Chamrasromran said the board had approved a five-year deal with SIM Plus, to be reviewed every two years, against a SIM Plus request for a 12-year deal. The 40-per-cent capacity of TOT’s network can serve 2.88 million subscribers.
The SIM Plus deal will be effective once TOT finishes expanding its 3G network base station number to 4,250 bases from the present over 3,000 bases nationwide. The state agency’s network expansion is expected to reach 4,250 bases in October.
SIM Plus will pay to TOT a minimum guarantee in the first year of B156 million and another Bt476 million in the second year.
During the first two years, if TOT fails to come up with a concrete plan to roll out additional 8,500 3G base stations, which is part of TOT’s second phase of 3G network expansion, SIM Plus can propose to abort its contract.
Both SIM Plus and Loxley are two of five existing companies currently providing 3G service by using TOT’s 3G existing network. The state agency asked five of them and other interested firms to propose for new contracts.
In the first year, SIM Plus is targeting 860,000 3G subscribers, up from the present 390,000 users, before rising to 1.81 million in the second year.
