CAT Telecom eyes WiMax deal with MCOT

       CAT Telecom is keen on using MCOT's 2.6GHz spectrum to offer WiMax broadband cellular services as part of its plan to develop new wireless businesses.
       CAT's new CEO, Jirayuth Rungsrithong, said yesterday that CAT would talk seriously with the broadcaster's management on a possible tie-up to develop WiMax on the 2.6GHz spectrum.
       CAT has already floated the idea to MCOT, he said.
       However, the National Telecommunications Commission has earmarked only the 2.3GHz spectrum for WiMax, since other potential alternatives, such as the 2.5GHz spectrum, are now being used for broadcasting.
       CAT's board on Wednesday appointed Jirayuth to a four-year term and will evaluate his performance every six months.
       Jirayuth said that besides seeking new business, his other top priority is to finish merging CAT's CDMA 2000 1-x cellular network with Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia's network by December.
       Hutchison-CAT is a joint venture of CAT and Hong Kong telecom operator Hutchison Telecom.
       CAT operates its own CDMA network in 51 provinces, while Hutchison-CAT markets the CDMA service under a contract with CAT on a separate CDMA network in 25 provinces.
       Hutchison-CAT leases the CDMA network from BFKT, which is wholly owned by Hutchison Telecom.
       Their combined network will strengthen the state enterprise's CDMA service offering and marketing.
       Hutchison Telecom has already informed CAT of its intention to sell the BFKT network to CAT.
       CAT's CDMA service, which has 350,000 subscribers, generated revenue of Bt618 million in the first eight months of this year, while Hutchison-CAT, which has 1.1 million subscribers, contributed about Bt400 million to CAT in the same period.
       CAT's CDMA network in 51 provinces features the 3G wireless broadband technology, Jirayuth said.
       CAT plans to upgrade the BFKT network to the technology after the merger, as it wants to evolve the merged network to 4G technology in a few years.
       CAT targets total revenue of Bt52 billion this year after posting revenue of Bt31.9 billion in the first eight months, of which Bt12 billion was from its own operation and Bt19 billion from its concession holders.