Thailand 3G Roll Out process finally initiates: DTAC Ready to start services soon

The 3G process has finally started in Thailand. According to DTAC CEO Tore Johnsen, the 3G process is finally here but the hybrid licensing regime will be expensive and burdensome for operators.

The 3G licensing system has fee that are substantially lower than what we pay today in revenue share, he stated in the keynote at the GSMA’s annual Asian roaming conference. This puts a lot pressure on everyone to change, because one has to adjust to a licensing system, which is common in most countries, but DTAC still have the old system in parallel. While the country’s existing mobile concessions expire between 2013 and 2018 and will be converted to licenses or terminated, Thailand needed to enter into a complete licensing regime.

The Minister of Finance and the Ministry of ICT are both working on it. If that happens, it would make the systems much easier and you could offer even more competitive pricing than with two different systems.