3g

[Gary A]

AIS cuts its 3G budget for this year by 40%

SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN

Advanced Info Service (AIS) has decided to spend only 40% of its total US$150-million investment budget for third-generation (3G) services this year, with allocation of the remaining funds to be decided next year.

In light of the financial meltdown, the country's largest mobile operator had already scaled down its 3G mobile broadband plan, cutting its investment for the first phase from $600 million to $150 million.

[monty]

I don't see it happen next year

Dtac is similarly scaling down their commitment to 3G.

Both mention the lack of demand, which I find hard to understand. I think it more to be a lack of proper marketing, both AIS and Dtac's websites are a nightmare to navigate by non Thai speaking people!

[GungaDin]

So, I'm glad I bought a used 6120 & not new.

[nikster]

I don't see it happen next year

Dtac is similarly scaling down their commitment to 3G.

Both mention the lack of demand, which I find hard to understand. I think it more to be a lack of proper marketing, both AIS and Dtac's websites are a nightmare to navigate by non Thai speaking people!

* Agreed, their websites are a horror.

It's hard to forecast demand for 3G data services - there might be a lot, there might be a little, either way it would be slower than DSL and would have to be priced similarly to DSL. I'd imagine the operators have a pretty good idea how many people would sign up for data - all those that are currently signed up for EDGE/GPRS. Maybe that's not that many, or not enough to justify the upgrade to 3G. Then there's politics dragging its feet forever and ever...

There might also be game theory at work. If DTAC suddenly offered 3G, it would take all the data customers and some more from AIS. Except if AIS, in response, also offered 3G. Then nobody would move and everything would be as before, except both companies would be out of the cash they paid for the 3G towers.

The best course of action for both players is to "threaten" 3g but never actually implement it. Then all the money for 3G equipment can be saved. I think that's what we are seeing now. That, and political stasis.

I think we'll see movement if and when another party enters the market, like if CAT/Hutch went all UMTS/HSDPA, or True goes 3G.

[monty]

What irks me is that Thailand is trying to be an IT hub (they love that word don't they...)

Yet no 3G

Piss poor ADSL penetration upcountry.

The only alternative (iPSTAR) they still don't manage to run properly.

Yet I pop into Cambodia, and hey, presto, 3G! Camshin got it along with other providers. 40 US$/month unlimited!

Pop over the Friendship bridge into Vientiane (Laos), and presto, 3G on Lao Telecom...

For all I know Burma might already have it

---EDIT---

Yep, Burma has it. Although due to the price of handsets (2150 US$ on the black market!!!) limited at the moment to government officials. They do however expect to to have 200,000 subscribers by end 2009!

[nikster]

Who said Thailand is trying to be an IT hub?

You don't take politicians by their word back home, why do it here? Thailand is busy fighting over a 500 year old temple, busy lining the pockets of the new Thaksinistas and fending off the PAD. The last IT minister (!) thought the internet was overrated and admitted to never reading his email.

And Thailand is playing fun games with mobile concessions which makes any investment extremely risky. Even if you had the right connection to make such an investment work, there is no guarantee these connections will still be around tomorrow. I can understand the mobile firms

Actions speak (much) louder than words: Thailand is not trying to be an IT hub. Not dissing Thailand, or Thais, BTW. IT is just not a priority.

Edited October 28, 2008 by nikster

[GungaDin]

"Hub" & Thailand is a long standing sad joke.

[stumonster]

and are they only looking at UTMS with their HSPA plan or was HSUPA on the table.

384kbits up compared to 1.9mbits up is a vast difference.

Singapore now has HSUPA at 1.9 Mbits and it should move to 5.6 Mbits in the near future.

and what about 802.16e - mobile WiMax - this tech will surpass GSM mobile tech shortly with many countries rolling out networks. HTC has a Wimax equipped phone out now , HTC T8290 , for a russian network ( might only be 2.5 GHz )

Thailand is a Dinosaur when it come to mobile internet connectivity.

[Crushdepth]

Advanced Info Service (AIS) has decided to spend only 40% of its total US$150-million investment budget for third-generation (3G) services this year, with allocation of the remaining funds to be decided next year.

AIS has been giving press releases about their 'grand 3G network rollout plan' for at least 4 years that I'm aware of. You mean we have to wait longer ?

Just for fun, here's something I wrote in 2004:

Why doesn't AIS offer EDGE

They plan to, but, they have screwed up their roll out by awarding contracts to build their network to at least three different equipment vendors over the last 12 months including Siemens, Ericsson and Nokia. They are now the proud owners of a whole bunch of incompatible equipment. Why ? The usual reasons...use your imagination

Of course they finally did get EDGE but I suspect that the 'economic meltdown' is just a convenient excuse to cover their own internal incompetence and unusual procurement practices.

Edited October 28, 2008 by Crushdepth

[anotheruser]

Edge is basically good enough. I would prefer them to expand Edge than try to implement a 3G system which will be frustrating at best outside of major urban hubs. 3G doesn't even work that well in lots of western countries so I can only imagine what it would be like in Thailand. If you are in Bkk you already most likely have better options. If you are in the sticks 3G coverage will be a long time coming if you want a reliable, stable connection.

3G requires a much higher density of towers than Edge and as such it isn't surprising that they consider lack of demand in their decision making. 3G won't be able to cover even the current users they have now as the coverage won't penetrate to the same places. So they would have to install more towers and see fewer actual users. Even if it was implemented if you are dreaming of most things 3G would allow (think P2P here) will be capped for certain. In other words enjoy your marginally faster, more expensive than Edge connection up to 5 GB a month.

Edge enables you to use the web and most casual internet applications sufficiently. 3G doesn't mean you can download all you want at a low cost at this point. Even most carriers in other countries that offer 3G certainly don't want their devices to be tethered with out expensive data packages. 3G is still viewed as a mobile technology and is not a replacement for high speed home internet on computers in general. If everybody tethered a computer 3G networks would come to a grinding halt.

It will be up to 5 years before Thailand gets 3G that is meaningful IMO. The power of wishful thinking is strong and I would love to see it roll out sooner but given my experiences with 3G I don't think it is viable. Perhaps it was a smart decision to try not to put it out too fast and do a half ass job of it. I also spend a lot of my life in rural areas and understand the frustration but given the current state of networks not even working some times I think it is too early. SIGH

That's just my 2 cents though.

[skippybangkok]

Lol,

AIS never planned to roll out on 900 MHz anyway, not even an idiot would do it on that frequency. until they get good and enough frequency allocated, they will not be able to roll out.

DTAC / True have some allocation, but its insufficient to roll out a good service. (i think they got 10 Mhz sectrum when 40 is really a starting point )

p.s. any News on Wimax Licences in thailand ? ( Malaysia has already handed out 3 or four a year or more ago )

Such is our marvelous NTC (National Turtle Commission) / regulatory environment.

Edited October 28, 2008 by skippybangkok