The board of CAT Telecom recently instructed the state agency to prepare to seek a partner to bid jointly for a third-generation wireless-broadband spectrum licence.
CAT executive committee chairman Krisda Kaweeyarn said the board had told management to study several possible partnership models and that the potential partner could be either a local or a foreign telecom operator.
Krisda believes some telecom operators are interested in joining with CAT to bid for a third-generation licence.
"The 3G business is the road to go down, as we've focused on the wireless and wire-line businesses," he said.
The National Telecommunications Commission will auction four 3G 2.1-gigahertz spectrum licences but has yet to specify the date. It is expected to put the licences up for auction late this year or early next.
The watchdog's 3G licensing consultant, Nera, is working out the details of the auction process.
CAT is also working out the business strategy and marketing plan for its fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) business, which will provide broadband access and multimedia content to customers' premises via the direct link of a fibre-optic network, Krisda said.
The board recently approved the state agency's spending of Bt6 billion to develop the FTTx service in greater Bangkok. The service, to be launched within the next two years, initially targets 400,000 customers.
He said CAT would launch the service in other major provinces after the service debut in Bangkok.
Many companies have shown interest in being multimedia content partners for CAT's FTTx business.
Krisda believes CAT will be able to post a net operating profit this year, due to its ongoing cost-reduction programme, while its main business of international calling has continued to launch aggressive marketing campaigns in a bid to boost revenue.
CAT's Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1-x cellular service in 51 provinces currently has 350,000 subscribers, against a target of 500,000 for this year.
The agency recorded revenue of Bt23.79 billion for the first half, down 3 per cent year on year, for a net profit oft Bt3.98 billion, down 13 per cent. Excluding concession revenue, CAT posted income of Bt9.35 billion for a net loss of Bt286 million for the period.
Of the first-half revenue, Bt1.1 billion was contributed by its cellular-service marketing joint venture, Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia.
CAT targets overall revenue of Bt52 billion for a net profit of Bt9.26 billion this year.
In a separate matter, True Move, which is providing 3G service on its 1,800-megahertz spectrum on a non-commercial basis, recently asked for CAT's permission to begin offering the service commercially. True Move holds the mobile-phone service concession of CAT.
Krisda said the CAT board, which had just assumed office, needed time to consider the request.
Monday, August 24, 2009
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