CAT Telecom on mission for more bandwidth
CAT Telecom plans to ask the upcoming Digital Economy Committee to allocate it bandwidth for providing public services, said acting president Sanpachai Huvanandana.
He added that CAT was ready to join the auction of licences for telecom bandwidth on the 1,800-megahertz spectrum, as it may need some of that spectrum for its hoped-for public-service duties.
Sanpachai said CAT was eager to be the telecommunications centre for government disaster and emergency systems, so it needs bandwidth to provide these kinds of services.
According to pending legislation, the Digital Economy Committee will decide which telecom spectra will be used for public services and which for commercial services, while the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will maintain its current responsibility for the licensing process.
Sanpachai said CAT had considered competing in the 1,800MHz auction, which is expected to be held by the NBTC this year. The state agency will seek partners to join it in the bid, possibly SK Telecom or a Japanese telecom service provider.
CAT had been in talks with SK Telecom last year on possible collaboration in the 1,800MHz auction originally planned by the NBTC, but that event was suspended for a year by the National Council for Peace and Order after the military seized power from the elected government.
"We will resume the talks with SK Telecom and other possible strategic partners for this auction," Sanpachai said.
The NBTC will auction the 1,800MHz licences this year, pending the official approval of the junta.
Once the Digital Economy Committee is in place, CAT will approach it with the possibility of unleashing 25MHz of currently idle bandwidth on the 1,800MHz spectrum to provide mobile-phone services. That band is currently held by Total Access Communication (DTAC).
Sanpachai said CAT wanted some bandwidth on the 1,800MHz spectrum to provide commercial second-generation cellular services and to provide 3G or 4G services as well if it could acquire enough of the spectrum. CAT plans to operate the mobile services on its DTAC and True Move concession networks.
He said that building on a memorandum of understanding signed between CAT and DTAC late last year, the two would start the valuation of concession assets, including the telecommunications towers, the ownership of which is currently in dispute. They intend to establish |a collaborative relationship and enter constructive dialogue to promote the sharing of their network infrastructure and network-access businesses.
CAT is expected to finalise this joint-venture deal in March and submit it for approval by the committee founded under Article 43 of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act.
