CAT aims to seal network deal with True for 4G service
CAT TELECOM hopes to wrap up talks with True Corp over the state agency acquiring a Bt10-billion transmission network which is part of the nationwide 3G network of True subsidiary BFKT (Thailand).
CAT’s acting president, Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana, said the state agency needed the transmission network to support its plan to develop a 4G service and other related broadband service businesses.
The planned purchase is related to a network leasing agreement signed between CAT and BFKT in January 2011. Under the deal, BFKT installed the nationwide 850MHz network so that CAT could rent the 3G bandwidth wholesale to interested companies.
The deal requires CAT to install the transmission network to support this 3G network operation. However, in 2011 CAT did not have a budget to invest in the transmission system and asked BFKT to install the system and it would buy it back later.
In October 2013, the then Cabinet approved CAT’s plan to spend Bt13 billion to develop the 3G service, of which Bt8 billion would be allocated to purchase the transmission network from BFKT. The network would include a 5,000-kilometre fibre optic transmission line and related transmission equipment.
Sanpachai said that CAT proposed to buy the transmission network from BFKT last year for Bt8 billion.
He said that at the present, the value of the network plus related costs was around Bt10 billion which meant CAT had to again ask for Cabinet approval to purchase the network.
He added that buying the network would help CAT save on the cost of renting it for Bt2.2 billion per year.
CAT is also in talks over a partnership deal with its concession holder Total Access Communication (DTAC) to develop a 4G service on the state agency's idle 20MHz of bandwidth on the 1800MHz spectrum. The state agency wants to finalise the deal soon.
In a separate matter, CAT proposed to True two models in a bid to solve their dispute over the ownership of 6,000 telecommunications towers under a concession CAT granted True subsidiary TrueMove. The concession expired in September 2013.
They are the establishment of a joint venture to manage the towers and CAT putting the towers in True’s existing telecom infrastructure fund. True appears to prefer the latter model.
