New telecom operator unveils ambitious plan
THE NEWLY launched mobile virtual network operator, Data CDMA Communication, will invest Bt200 million this year on its business development plan and is confident of achieving its ambitious target of securing at least a million subscribers this year.
The company, which has leased 3G 850-megahertz airtime from CAT Telecom to offer the MVNO service, will officially launch it on the Myworld3G brand next month, after the recent soft launch.
The company currently has around 4,000 subscribers.
Its promotional campaign charges users Bt999 per month, with unlimited free calls to all operators for 24 hours and unlimited data services at 512 kilobits per second.
The company’s SIM cards allow users to receive incoming calls free of charge for six months while travelling in 41 countries, including China, South Korea, England, Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore. All its SIM cards contain the Myworld pay-point application, which enables users to wirelessly pay all their utility service bills from mobile devices.
Data CDMA Communication president Nipon Chucherd said that Myworld3G would tap niche markets, including Thais travelling overseas and the operators of truck fleets using the Global Positioning System.
The company has appointed master dealers in each province to sell its SIM cards and they will get Bt150 per card. Each dealer has to commit to selling at least 2,000 cards within three months.
The company is also offering Internet Protocol TV services under the MyworldTV brand, which enables SIM card users to watch around 100 TV channels, including Myanmar and Cambodian TV programmes, on their mobile devices. They are charged Bt20 per month, with currently around 7,000 subscribers.
“We are confident of securing at least one million users within this year and will break even with only 100,000 users,” Nipon said.
Data CDMA Communication is one of four MVNOs that last week formed the Thailand MVNO Club to share the cost of operating systems and create more competition. The other MVNOs are i-mobile Plus Co, of Samart I-Mobile, 168 Communication, and The WhiteSpace Co.
All are part of CAT’s MVNO |network, which provides a 3G |cellular service on the 850MHz spectrum. It is the first time |small and medium-sized tele-|com operators have formed an alliance.
