AIS and TOT set to launch service under a joint trial
ADVANCED Info Service and TOT are expected to sign a contract signalling the launch of a joint-trial commercial service on the state agency’s 2.1 gigahertz spectrum shortly after the re-auction of a 900 megahertz licence on Friday, Information and Communi
“We’re just waiting for the Attorney-General Office to approve the final draft,” he added.
AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) is the only bidder for the re-auction.
The joint-trial commercial service between AIS and TOT will last for six months, after which they will sign other related contracts as part of their partnership to provide the 3G service on TOT’s 2.1 gigahertz.
In March, AIS and TOT signed a memorandum of understanding as the first part of an agreement for TOT to gain Bt10 billion a year for a 10-year partnership covering the 2.1GHz spectrum, telecom towers and the 900MHz network.
The MoU covers only the trial-service offering on the 2.1GHz spectrum without the payment condition
AIS currently holds 15MHz of the licensed 2.1GHz spectrum and 15MHz of the licensed 1800MHz spectrum.
True Corp chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said it was not beyond True’s expectation that in the end AIS would be able to grab the 900MHz licence.
However, True has a bigger spectrum portfolio than its rivals, he said.
True has a total of 55MHz bandwidth, comprising 15MHz of the 2.1GHz spectrum, 15MHz of the 1800MHz spectrum, and 10MHz of the 900MHz spectrum. It also has partnered with CAT Telecom to offer a 3G service on 15MHz of CAT’s 850MHz spectrum.
Given the 900MHz spectrum AWN will grab from the re-auction is adjacent to DTAC’s 850MHz frequency, AWN will be able to use only 7.5MHz out of the 10MHz total of this band.
The remaining 2.5MHz must be technically reserved as a “guard band” to prevent any frequency interference between AWN and DTAC.
However, an AIS source said that the company was ready to invest to technically enable it to fully utilise the 10MHz of 900MHz and might seek a network collaboration with DTAC to achieve this goal.
Earlier True chief finance officer Noppadol Dej-udom said that True would become the No 2 player in terms of revenue market share within three years.
According to a telecom analyst, as of the first quarter last year AIS had 50.5 per cent of the overall revenue market, while DTAC had 27.5 per cent and True had 22 per cent.
