Hutch Likely To Take Over Cat Cdma Service Nationwide

[george]

Hutch likely to take over CAT CDMA service nationwide

BANGKOK: -- It looks like Thailand is going to finally have an integrated CDMA network under one brand, Hutch.

At present, Hutch is the service provider for the greater Bangkok area as well as the 25 central provinces. Upcountry provinces are serviced by CAT's CDMA network. Users of these each brand have had the ability to seamlessly cross over networks due to a service agreement between both brands. However, there were rumors of talks between both brands to form a partnership of sorts for several months now.

According to a Thai Post article, Thailand's ICT Ministry has decided to this in order to, according to the source, reduce brand confusion.

The Ministry has given its approval, in principle, to the companies' previously proposed plan. The plan is to have BFKT, a Hutch subsidiary which currently owns the infrastructure, to transfer ownership of its network to CAT. CAT would then own the entire network and lease it to Hutch, which would be a service provider but would not have to deal with the maintenance and associated responsibilities with owning the hardware.

Details are still sketchy with regard to the details of this agreement. However, CAT's previous offering of 10 billion baht for the network was greatly undervaluing the actual worth. The service agreement between the two companies, which includes pricing, has yet to be agreed to.

-- Cnet.com 2008-08-12

[LivinLOS]

You can see the tech support already.. Call up Hutch, no ploblem CAT, call up CAT, ploblem Hutch..

[mgjackson69]

>"...Users of these each brand have had the ability to seamlessly cross over networks due to a service agreement between both brands"

Funny...my Hutch AirCard works in Bangkok and Chanthaburi. It does not work in the South, it does not work in Korat, it does not work in Loei, it does not work in Chiang Mai, it does not work in Surin.

Seamless my ass....

At one point, it *did* work in Loei and Korat. Later, when it stopped working in those places and I asked Hutch about it, I was told that it never worked in those places and politely called a liar.

[g00dgirl]

That would be good news, hopefully I would be able to use the CAT CDMA service anywhere in Thailand sometime soon.

Users of these each brand have had the ability to seamlessly cross over networks due to a service agreement between both brands.

How do they mean that? I have a contract with CAT but could never connect in Hutch areas like Bangkok.

[mgjackson69]

I was told by a Thai friend who works in the wireless industry here, for some company from Northern Europe, that initially Hutch and Cat had roaming agreements for data users, but had some sort of piss-up over cross charges, etc etc etc. So they stopped the roaming.

This would seem to agree with my observations...worked before, now does not work.

[monty]

AFAIK, roaming between both providers was only possible for voice, but not for data!

[nikster]

AFAIK, roaming between both providers was only possible for voice, but not for data!

Correct. That's what they mean by cross over agreement. It works for voice but not data.

I guess this is good news, I can finally use my CAT CDMA card in Bangkok. I just hope Hutch will upgrade their towers to EV-DO or it won't be worth much.

It really makes sense given that CAT seems to have the technology well under control (the CDMA service works very well up here in the north) but seems completely unable to market this in any way, shape, or form. Selling your phones only in your headquarters and telling no one about it is certainly the most curious marketing strategy I have ever seen.

We'll see though. There seem to me countless announcements regarding 3G services and wireless carriers merging/not merging/buying out something/sharing/concessions/licenses recently, without anything actually happening.

[dotcom]

Yeah that's too bad. Cuz 3G is already obsolete.

Might be great here in the back woods where GSM has been rammed down our throats.

But in the USA they already have 3.5G & 4G is comin fast. So Hutchinson make the best buggy whip.

I agree they are horrible at marketing.

[Crushdepth]

I just wish someone would finally get their act together and offer a fast 3g network. How many years have they been discussing this? Buying the wrong equipment, buying from multiple vendors, changing their mind, moving to HSPDA etc etc?

Argh!

[nikster]

I just wish someone would finally get their act together and offer a fast 3g network. How many years have they been discussing this? Buying the wrong equipment, buying from multiple vendors, changing their mind, moving to HSPDA etc etc?

I believe the problem lies with politics more than anything else. The carriers want to move to 3G but they are not allowed by their licensing agreements. DTAC and True are waiting for approval to import 3G equipment. Somehow their application had to go through CAT - it's all a huge muddy bureaucratic mess. It doesn't help that the PM is 70 years old and couldn't care less about "3G", if he's even heard of it.

In hindsight it was a lucky co-incidence that CAT / Hutch were able to sneak in a 3G network at all. Sure it's older technology, but better than nothing.

Edited August 14, 2008 by nikster

[dotcom]

The Thai government (of which CAT is a part) have not auctioned off the correct spectrum yet. 2100 mhz. How can you purchase equipment for a non existant lisence?

DTAC does have spectrum in it's old analog 850 mhz if they chose to use it.

CDMA is the way forward - not just flogging GSM to try & make it run faster.