SIM to provide 3G service on TOT network
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Samart I-Mobile to enter 12-year deal with state agency in new MVNO contract
Handset distributor Samart I-Mobile is expected to sign a new MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) deal with TOT this week to provide third-generation cellular service on the agency’s network, said Watchai Vilailuck, president of Samart Corp, SIM’s parent.
An MVNO is a company that leases a network from a major telecom operator to provide cellular service.
Under the new 12-year MVNO contract, SIM will keep 54 per cent of the revenue from the 3G service and the rest will go to TOT. SIM expects to have about 600,000 users by the end of this year, up from about 284,000 currently. SIM has the right to provide the 3G service to a maximum of 2.8 million users initially but can expand that number depending on capacity and demand.
TOT recruited five MVNO partners, including SIM, several years ago and is now in the process of granting new longer-term contracts.
Currently, TOT has 5,000 base stations for its 2.1-gigahertz 3G network in the first phase of its network expansion. It is scheduled to have all 5,320 sites of the first phase installed by month.
Recently SIM, Watchai himself and his Vilailuck Holding firm invested about Bt200 million to acquire a combined 9-per-cent share of major handset distributor M Link Asia Corp. SIM acquired a 4-per-cent stake, and the rest of the block of shares was acquired by Watchai and Vilailuck Holding.
Watchai said it would benefit SIM to expand 3G services under an MVNO deal. M Link is one of the main distributors of Nokia handsets. SIM can offer its own 3G SIM cards to buyer of Nokia mobile phones, he said.
SIM, which has its own in-house mobile-phone brand, IQ, and also sells other international brands, is expected to sell a total of 3.6 million handsets this year.
Regarding the upcoming auction of commercial digital TV licences by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, Watchai said I-Sport Media, a 50:50 joint venture between Samart Multimedia and Siam Sport Publishing, would bid for a standard-definition news channel.
The NBTC is expected to hold the auction of 24 channels in December or January.
He also said another subsidiary, Samart Engineering, was targeting more revenue from selling set-top boxes for digital television. The company hopes to sell about 400,000 boxes after the expected launch of terrestrial digital TV next year by the winners of the NBTC auction.
