Army 'needs Bt1 bn more' for second digital TV network

“Despite shouldering higher development costs for two digital TV network service licences than the three other network providers, the Army is likely to get better returns due to its double capacity,” Anupon Tajawanno, business development manager at Cisco System (Thailand), told The Nation yesterday.
The cost for the business development of the second licence would possibly be less than half of the budget earmarked for the first one, he said.
Operating cost per licence also seems to be more competitive than its rivals, he commented.
An executive at the Royal Thai Army Radio and Television Station, the operator of Channel 5, said that under the transition plan for digital terrestrial TV, about Bt1.7 billion had been prepared for the digital roll-out over four years. But transmitters at 39 main sites to reach more than 90 per cent of the country’s 22 million households would be installed within two years.
Chatree Chatreekul, vice president for digital broadcasting at International Research Corporation, estimates that the Army’s business development related to the second licence might cost Bt1 billion or more.
Prapat Rathlertkarn, president and chief executive of Planet Communications Asia, said the recent awarding of digital TV network licences would open up opportunities for broadcasting-technology firms to sell equipment and solutions to those network providers.
Prapat, who is deputy secretary-general of the Thai Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication Industries Association, said the competition among those technology companies was extremely intense.
Chuchai Chansangavej, assistant managing director at TeqTV, a provider if digital broadcasting solutions, said the test run of digital terrestrial broadcasting in Chiang Mai that the company conducted a couple of months ago with the Public Relations Department (PRD) had received good feedback from local viewers.
They expressed interest in watching programmes via the digital platform because the new technology ensured a better viewing experience with high-quality pictures.
“This reflects the bright future for businesses involving digital terrestrial TV,” he said.
The experts also agreed with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s decision to grant the Army a second licence to ensure more choices for new digital TV broadcasters.
“This decision is significant and its timing right in preparation for the auction of commercial digital TV licences in December,” Chatree said.
The four multiplexers to be used by the Army, MCOT, the PRD and Thai Public Broadcasting Service can be configured for at maximum 24 standard-definition and eight high-definition channels. This is not sufficient for the basic requirement to carry all public and commercial digital channels in the first phase early next year, he said.
In fact, the regulator has plans for six multiplexers to carry 48 channels, including 12 for public service, 24 for commercial service and 12 for community service. The last multiplexer will likely be reserved for community-service channels, Chatree said.