Wireless Federation

Alcatel-Lucent of France has expressed strong interest in entering a venture with Thai Mobile for the country’s first 3G cellular service based on a government-to-government model.

The telecom equipment supplier said that the Chinese government had already given the green light to Alcatel Shanghai Bell, the flagship of Alcatel-Lucent in the Asia Pacific region, to participate with Thai Mobile.

Alcatel Shanghai Bell is 50% owned by the Chinese government.

“We are in discussions with TOT on a possible venture with Thai Mobile in areas of financing support, potential 3G technologies and a future business model,” said Yuan Xin, the chairman of Alcatel Shanghai Bell, said recently in Bangkok. “We are very interested and willing to be a strategic partner with Thai Mobile to start up 3G service in the face of technology transition.”

Thai Mobile is a joint venture between Thailand’s two state telecom agencies, TOT and CAT Telecom. It is currently the only operator using 1900Mhz, a global 3G cellular technology platform. The now defunct Frequency Allocation Committee set aside the spectrum for Thai Mobile before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was established as the industry regulator three years ago.

The spectrum is the most valuable asset of Thai Mobile, which has otherwise failed to establish a presence in the local cellular market. It has only around 70,000 customers out of 42 million mobile users nationwide.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

 

TOT Plc is being encouraged to invite other countries to make investment proposals for its third-generation (3G) mobile phone network at the government-to-government level and to use open network architecture.

The open-architecture method would pave the way for a telecom-pool concept and will be a win-win model for all parties, says Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) minister.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines open network architecture as the overall design of a communication carrier’s basic network facilities and services that permits all users to interconnect to specific basic functions on an unbundled, equal-access basis.

The great advantage of open architectures is that anyone can design add-on products for it, says Dr Sitthichai.

TOT board director and spokesman Djit Laowattana said the minister advised that investment in a 3G network should be on a government-to-government basis.

Mr Djit said the open architecture pattern also would not restrict TOT from access to technology development, technology transfer and new investors.

The minister also advised, however, that in proposing open network architecture, TOT must study all regulations and laws, even the joint private-public investment law, although in reality foreign government offering either long-term or soft loans was not considered a joint investment.

Mr Djit said that TOT had received proposals from manufacturers including Alcatel, Marubeni, ZTE and Huawei to build the 3G network.

He said that when the 3G network was complete, then all private operators could rent it from Thai Mobile for use at a low rate of just cost plus a small margin.

With such low rent, newcomers were ready to pay in exchange for access to the wide coverage of the network and Thai Mobile would obtain the rent, he said.

Mr Djit also disclosed that Thai Mobile had received proposals from DTAC and AIS for free roaming on their networks for 100,000 numbers each.

In exchange for the free roaming for Thai Mobile’s 100,000 numbers, DTAC asked for either the renting or using Thai Mobile’s two million numbers instead, he said.

Thai Mobile still has 10 million numbers remaining after it was allocated the numbers from the National Telecommunications Commission, he said.

However, he said the proposal of free roaming in exchange for using or renting two million numbers of Thai Mobile would be forwarded to the NTC for acknowledgement.

AIS also agreed to DTAC’s proposals to TOT and was ready to propose the same, he said.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

 

Thai Mobile is moving closer to becoming the first 3G service operator with two European telecom operators and investment funds from China and Russia interested in helping start the broadband cellular service and provide long-term loans. Djit Laowattana, a TOT board director and spokesperson, disclosed after a meeting yesterday that England’s Vodafone and France’s Alcatel had shown interest in helping construct the network for Thai Mobile with their 3G technologies.

Investment funds from China and Russia would extend long-term loans for Thai Mobile to start up the third generation cellular services.

Thai Mobile is a joint venture between TOT (58%) and CAT Telecom (42%). It is the only operator using 1900 megahertz, a global 3G cellular-technology platform. The now defunct Frequency Allocation Committee set aside the spectrum for Thai Mobile before the National Telecommunications Commission was established three years ago.

He said that Alcatel scheduled a meeting with TOT to propose its 3G technology on Friday.

He disclosed that at the first meeting of TOT’s 3G committee, it considered using about 17.38 billion baht to migrate the existing 2G service of Thai Mobile to 3G in three phases.

The migration, he said, pinned hope on Advanced Info Service and DTAC using its 3G network and helping with innovation services.

He said Phase I would involve investing around 1.4 billion baht to upgrade the existing 533 base stations and core network from GSM to WCDMA or 3G technology.

The second phase would use 15.5 billion baht for nationwide investment, and the last phase would need another 400 million baht for six major provinces in Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Nakhon Sawan and Surat Thani.

The holding structure of the 3G network would be the same with ACT Mobile as the network owner, while Thai Mobile would rent the network to operate.

But he said that TOT was in the process of buying CAT’s stake in Thai Mobile at 2.4 billion baht, a deal which has yet to be settled.

He said that while the 3G committee was in favour of 3G networks, private operators showed little interest in investing by themselves due to low margins.

He said TOT wanted help from local operators as partners to help manage and develop services.

However, he said that there was no settlement yet on the proposals, but that the situation could become clearer within the next three months before the general elections at the end of the year.

But Sigve Brekke, the chief executive of DTAC, said that his company had never expressed interest in using Thai Mobile’s 3G network service.

The TOT board however had expressed interest in attracting private operators to use the Thai Mobile network, and had approached DTAC with the concept three months ago. But no direct talks with Thai Mobile had been held to date, Mr Brekke said.

He added that DTAC planned to build its own 3G network and would rather allow Thai Mobile to use its facilities instead.

 

 

 

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Samart Corporation yesterday suspended all services provided to Thai Mobile, the cellular phone joint venture of TOT Plc and CAT Telecom, after TOT failed to honour debt payments now totalling 1.12 billion baht. Samart also threatened to bring TOT to court if it did not agree to negotiations within the next few weeks.

The suspension of services could affect 70,000 Thai Mobile customers, particularly when they make calls to Thai Mobile call centres, as well as monthly billing.

However, Col Natee Sukolrat, the acting TOT president, insisted the suspension would not hurt Thai Mobile customers as TOT had its own billing system.

Earlier in May, the services to Thai Mobile, which included billing, customer services and marketing, were also cut when Thai Mobile failed to honour 900 million baht in debts. TOT owns 58% of the company, while CAT owns 42%.

Jong Diloksombat, chief executive officer of Samart I-Mobile, a subsidiary wholly owned by Samart, said it was paid only 800 million baht since it was awarded billing, customer service, and marketing contracts by TOT in August 2002. The state-run telecom still owes it 1.12 billion baht, he said.

The billing contract was set to expire in October but was extended for two more years after TOT claimed its customers were lower than target, he said.

However TOT did not honour its debt payments, prompting Samart to suspend the services, he said.

The suspension did not mean cancelling the contracts but merely ending the role of providing services for not honouring debt payments for a long time, which consequently affected Samart’s financial accounts, he said.

Besides, he said, both TOT and Thai Mobile had no intention to talk about this amount of debt.

At the last talks on May 9, he recalled, the TOT board promised to hold more talks but so far no more meetings have been arranged.

He said that the 34 million baht per month that TOT must pay Samart under the contracts did not mean a huge profit for Samart as some Thai Mobile executives believed.

Before the suspension of services, Samart had formally notified TOT and Thai Mobile but received no response, he said. If no talks were arranged in the next few weeks, he added, Samart must bring the case to court for action.

Thai Mobile has suffered an accumulated loss of six billion baht and has incurred debts of more than 1.1 billion to Samart Corporation since it began service in 2001. Debt payments are in arrears and the company is unable to resume payments, a TOT board director said earlier.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

 

The Bangkok Post reports that a protracted dispute appears to be nearing a climax with a decision by state-run CAT Telecom to pay network access charges to fellow government-owned fixed line operator TOT, and in turn sue True Move and DTAC, the two mobile operators that hold Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) licences with CAT, for THB4.8 billion (USD150 million) in compensation. DTAC and True Move stopped paying network access charges to TOT in November last year, arguing that the new system of interconnection rates approved by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should take precedence. TOT claims it is owed THB6 billion, and CAT has agreed to pay a first installment of THB2.4 billion on its mobile concessionaries’ behalf. However, in a further twist, an unnamed TOT executive said the payment would not be in cash, but that CAT would instead transfer its 42% equity stake in Thai Mobile, the struggling cellular joint venture between TOT and CAT. The stake has been valued at around THB2.4 billion. TOT had earlier offered to buy the shares to make it the sole owner of Thai Mobile, in the hope of reviving the business, which has debts of around THB6 billion.

The newspaper reports that the Ministry of Information & Communication Technology has given CAT the green light to take DTAC and True Move to the Civil Court. Under the terms of the original BTO concessions, CAT believes that it can seek compensation worth double the amount of access charges it has to pay. TOT, meanwhile, continues to insist that it should be allowed to collect access charges for the mobile operators’ use of its network, and regards access charges as a separate issue. The incumbent earned around THB14 billion last year from access charges. The three major cellular operators – Advanced Info Service (AIS, which operates under a BTO concession with TOT), DTAC and True Move – have signed interconnection agreements, but whilst DTAC and True Move are collecting the fees from each other, AIS has not begun to do so because it fears a lawsuit from TOT for breaching its licence. Sigve Brekke, chief executive of DTAC, disputed CAT’s contention that it is entitled to compensation at twice the amount of outstanding charges: ‘I’m 100% confident…We’ve never seen any statement that identified a double fine,’ he said. Mr Brekke said that DTAC, which was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Friday, had provided calculations of both access and interconnection charges in its first-quarter financial statement, which resulted in roughly equal totals. ‘We don’t care what TOT is doing,’ he said. ‘We’re sure about the access charge case following a study by our legal team, which coincides with a recent decision by the NTC to order TOT to enter into talks with DTAC for an interconnection agreement.’

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

TelecomTv writes…..In Thailand, 80,000 subscribers to the country’s Thai Mobile service were cut off temporarily yesterday when the owners TOT and CAT Telecom failed to pay a long-outstanding bill.

The loss-making carrier – by far and away the smallest in Thailand – has debts running well over the 900 million baht mark owing to Samart for billing, customer relation management and marketing services. The payments are a full year overdueSamart has been patient but in the last notice it sent to Thai Mobile, the company threatened that it would shut down its all its services to Thai Mobile on May 7 if TOT failed to pay the outstanding sums due. Intestingly, TOT is seeking to make a play to take over the totality of Thai Mobile by buying-out the CAT interest.

When no payment was forthcoming, Samart carried out its threat and cut-off its sevices. That had an immediate and salutary effect on events and forced TOT into quick-fire negotiations. Apparently, the majority of Thai Mobile’s customers are either civil servants or TOT employees.

Meanwhile, Advanced Info Service (AIS) has denied charges leveled by Thailand’s Assets.
Examination Committee that it gained a special advantage from the telecom excise policy introduced by the government of the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Local Thai media have reported ,“AIS said that no telecom operators had paid a lower concession fee but the same amounts went to the government under the telecom excise law, which has already been revoked by this [new] government.�

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News