However, unless they have found a way to circumvent the law it is NOT currently 3G.
TOT & CAT have been "urged" to attempt to run 3G on existing networks, but this will not be true 3G.By Khettiya Jittapong and Ploy Ten Kate
BANGKOK | Thu Sep 23, 2010 7:31am EDT
BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai court ordered the halt of a third-generation mobile license auction, a move which set the country back another few years in its attempt to adopt high-speed mobile phone services, sending local telco shares sharply lower.
Many Asian countries are already introducing fourth-generation mobile-phone technology, but in Thailand 3G services could be delayed two years while a new regulatory body is formed, preventing carriers from tapping new revenue streams and delaying foreign investment.
"We're the very last country for this technology. Our neighbors like Laos and Cambodia are moving ahead of us," said Panyakit Chaovamu, an analyst at stockbroker SICCO Securities Plc in Bangkok, adding the court decision could stall earnings growth in the industry for one or two years.
Thailand to upgrade 3G service on existing networks
Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:29am EDT
* With 3G auction suspended, operators seek new direction
* Mobile firms allying with state firms to develop 3G
* Development of 3G may be limited under fall-back plans
By Khettiya Jittapong and Pisit Changplagngam
BANGKOK, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Thailand's telecoms regulator said on Thursday it had asked two state-run companies to make progress on plans to help private operators develop third-generation mobile services on existing networks.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has sent letters to TOT Pcl and CAT Telecom Pcl urging them to act after the courts suspended an auction of 3G licences that would have allowed companies to set up their own network. [ID:nSGE68G0AW]
"The NTC has approved this since 2008," Natee Sukonrat, an NTC board member, told Reuters.
"Since we don't have the auction, the NTC isn't standing still: we are finding other ways for Thai people to have 3G services," he said, adding the delay to the auction would affect the growth of high-speed broadband Internet in Thailand.
However, under this fall-back solution, the private operators will only be able to offer 3G to limited numbers of subscribers, and they will still be stuck with a concession-based regulatory system that has been discarded elsewhere in Asia.
The auction had promised to transform the $4.7 billion sector, with telecom firms no longer operating under fixed-term concessions granted by state firms, and free to build up their own networks, with foreign entrants perhaps entering the fray.
Under the current system, companies pay about 25-30 percent of their revenue to state firms in return for the right to operate networks the companies have built and paid for.
These networks go to the state once concessions end. Under the 3G licence system, private operators would have owned their networks outright and paid a fee of 6 percent of revenue.
SATURATED MARKET
The delay to the auction has prompted operators to look for ways to upgrade their networks to get more revenue in a saturated market where almost everyone has a mobile phone.
The 3G services will enable users to download data and surf the Internet via mobile phones at much higher speeds than now.
On Wednesday, market leader Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS) (ADVA.BK) said it would join with TOT to launch a 3G service on TOT's 1900 MHz frequency, which is part of the 2.1 GHz spectrum for the 3G technology. [ID:nSGE68S03S]
