AIS Fibre and 3BB unite to boost Thailand’s home Internet industry

[webfact]

 

AIS Fibre and 3BB have merged their strengths to supercharge the future under the name, AIS – 3BB Fibre 3.

 

This union aims to uplift the home Internet industry in Thailand, supporting sustainable national growth. The idea is to combine for a better life and boost your brighter future by connecting all applications with a fibre network and superior innovations exceeding speed and service standards.

 

Their mission is to cater to the 2.38 million AIS Fibre customers and 2.3 million 3BB customers, including businesses, shops, entrepreneurs, and state and private sector organisations from all sectors. They aim to offer greater benefits and support the industry and the nation’s digital economic systems in all forms for robust and sustainable growth.

 

The fibre broadband infrastructure will now provide higher speed, strength, stability, and accessibility across the country.

 

Photo of Nattapong Westwood

Photo courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-11-23

 

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[george]

Good news indeed!

[BenStark]

1 hour ago, george said:

Good news indeed!

 

Don't see how a semi-monopoly can be considered good news

[george]

Good, now they can really beat True and other substandard ISP's.

[KhunBENQ]

58 minutes ago, BenStark said:

 

Don't see how a semi-monopoly can be considered good news

This country will sooner or later be owned by a handful of billionaire clans.

After mobile operators now Internet providers.

Not to speak of retail business.

Never good for competition.

[Mavideol]

2 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

This country will sooner or later be owned by a handful of billionaire clans.

After mobile operators now Internet providers.

Not to speak of retail business.

Never good for competition.

and I thought it was already the case 555

[Seppius]

I have nothing but praise for 3BB in Pattaya, excellent service

[Old Croc]

If it only results in a decrease in the numbers of duplicate cables festooned around the country's lamp posts it would be a good thing.

[Metapod]

the competition is what caused thailand to shoot up in the rankings for quality fiber. this is going to stagnate the market with a duopoly forming between AIS vs True

[Photoguy21]

All they need to do now is teach the installers how to properly handle the fibre cables.

[FlorC]

1 hour ago, Metapod said:

the competition is what caused thailand to shoot up in the rankings for quality fiber. this is going to stagnate the market with a duopoly forming between AIS vs True

And NT ? (former ToT-Cat).

I have good internet with NT.

 

 

[hotchilli]

I've used AiS for the last 3 years after dumping TOT, good service so far with reasonable speeds most of the time...

However every afternoon I get a 3pm-6pm lag, especially watching Youtube on TV..

 

[DPKANKAN]

You mean to jointly put your monthly rates up!!!!😔😔😔😔

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 hours ago, Metapod said:

the competition is what caused thailand to shoot up in the rankings for quality fiber. this is going to stagnate the market with a duopoly forming between AIS vs True

 

Did someone say DUOPOLY??

 

"November 11, 2023

 

BANGKOK -- Thailand's telecommunications regulator decided on Friday to allow the sale of Triple T Broadband, or 3BB, to Advanced Info Service (AIS), turning the country's broadband market into a virtual duopoly.

 

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) cleared the way for AIS to purchase 100% of 3BB, as well as a 19% stake in Jasmine Broadband Internet Infrastructure Fund (JASIF), the owner of 3BB's fiber optic assets.

 

The deal, valued at 32.4 billion baht ($899 million), would give AIS access to 3BB's upcountry broadband markets, where the former has limited coverage."

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/Thai-telecoms-regulator-clears-AIS-acquisition-of-broadband-rival

 

Funny how the local Thai news reports don't actually clearly say what the deal really is -- which is AIS fully buying out competitor 3BB, so as a result, they're no longer in competition with each other in the fiber internet field -- which rarely is a good thing for consumers in the marketplace.

 

AIS, previously part of Thaksin's communications empire, still is owned by one of Thailand's richest men today -- according to the above report -- Gulf Energy CEO Sarath Ratanavadi.  So presumably, the rich here will keep getting richer.

 

Just as True, also owned by another of Thailand's richest families (the Charoen Pokphand Group under the Chearavanont family) recently merged/took over DTAC in the mobile communications business.

 

So 3BB and DTAC are effectively gone from a corporate ownership perspective, and AIS and True are left standing and in control.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[cracker1]

20 hours ago, Seppius said:

I have nothing but praise for 3BB in Pattaya, excellent service

Same for me in Samui and Sakon Nakhon. Excellent service and prompt responses for any "glitches"

[spidermike007]

Near monopolies are never, ever a good thing for the people. 

[khunjake]

Our True Fiber service has been down all of 5 minutes this year at least during the day. We had NT fiber at our last place and it would go down minimum 3 times a week for at least an hour or more each time. Plus the usual early morning DHCP IP release and renew which would count as additional service outage. We had AIS in our Suk 42 condo and it was a constant headache, down constantly. Anyway, we have been very happy with True lately..

[scorecard]

On 11/23/2023 at 12:22 PM, KhunBENQ said:

This country will sooner or later be owned by a handful of billionaire clans.

After mobile operators now Internet providers.

Not to speak of retail business.

Never good for competition.

Retail business....

- I believe 3BB has a TV app similar to AIS Play.

 

I wonder if one will be dropped as part of the amalgamation of the 2 companies, or will we 2 TV services to choose from?

 

 

[khunjake]

As for the IPTV service and related Android box, I would also say that True has been the best so far as well even if the box needs a kick every 3-5 days. TOT was barely functional and AIS seemed to be pretty good but the DSL would constantly go down in us so would the IPTV obviously. We still use PSI for all Thai TVs though since its a must have with the wife.