TOT, CAT eye merger of mobile phone businesses

CAT president Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana said recently that after the merger, the two agencies would jointly ask the government to extend the validity terms of some of their mobile-phone spectra to enable the merged entity to make money for the long term.
“Executives of both agencies have discussed the merger plan and will continue to talk about the details,” he said. 
He said that if they were able to merge their mobile-phone services, it was highly likely that the government would consider extending the spectrum validity periods for them. Joining together would also enhance TOT’s and CAT’s business opportunities in the cellular-service market.
TOT president Montchai Noosong said recently that after they completed the merger plan, they would submit it to the State Enterprise Policy Commission for its consideration. The two agencies will also jointly submit for the commission’s consideration on January 9 their plans to merge their broadband businesses into one company and their Internet data-centre businesses and international Internet gateway businesses into another company. 
The merger of these three core businesses is in line with the commission’s policy to improve their competitiveness.
TOT holds 15 megahertz of bandwidth on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, which now has only around 100,000 subscribers. Its right to use the band will expire in 2025. TOT also holds 60MHz of the 2.3GHz spectrum, which will expire in 2025. 
CAT holds 15MHz of the 850MHz spectrum and its right to use it will expire in 2025. The band has more than 1.7 million subscribers. It also has an idle 45MHz bandwidth on the 1,800MHz spectrum, which will expire in 2018. 
Earlier CAT asked the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to extend the expiration date of its idle 45MHz bandwidth to 2025 from the original date of 2018, but the request was denied. The NBTC said the law required it to reclaim the spectra from the state telecom agencies for reallocation after the expiration of their terms.
Sanpachai said CAT had stopped talking with Total Access Communication (DTAC) about a plan to develop a fourth-generation service on this idle band, as it would expire in 2018.
TOT expects revenue of around Bt15 billion from its mobile-phone service next year, of which more than Bt14 billion will be from wholesaling 2.1GHz bandwidth to Advanced Wireless Network. The rest will be from the 2.1GHz mobile-phone service provided by TOT itself and its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partners combined.
CAT’s mobile-phone service is expected to earn revenue of Bt24 billion this year, of which Bt21 billion will be from wholesaling bandwidth on the 850MHz spectrum to True Corp’s mobile-phone business group. Of the rest, Bt2.6 billion will be from its own My brand mobile-phone service and Bt400 million from the contributions of its MVNO partners.