The Thai government has approved a Bt19.9bn (US$653m) budget for state-owned telco TOT to expand 3G services on its existing network, according to media reports.
The project is aimed at covering 50% of the population in 15 provinces with the network.
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The Thai government has approved a Bt19.9bn (US$653m) budget for state-owned telco TOT to expand 3G services on its existing network, according to media reports.
The project is aimed at covering 50% of the population in 15 provinces with the network.
In the meantime, Thai mobile operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) said it would provide commercial 3G services in partnership with TOT as an MVNO, reports wrote.
This announcement comes just a few days after the Thai Supreme Administrative Court upheld the suspension of the 3G licence auction, following a request from CAT and TOT.
State-owned CAT Telecom applied to the Supreme Administrative Court to stop the process, claiming that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) did not have the authority to award licences.
CAT and TOT also argued that the 3G auction could impact their revenues. Under existing concessions, operators pay about 25-30% of their revenue to state-owned companies. This would compare to 6% under the new 3G concessions to be awarded.
On Monday, CAT was told, by the Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT), that it should pay less for Hutchinson Telecommunications International (HTI)’s CDMA assets.
ICT Minister Chuti Krairiksh was quoted as saying that it was not necessary for CAT to pay such a high price for the network and should instead save money for other projects as part of the government’s plan to promote CAT and TOT as the national network providers.
TOT could not be reached for comment.
