True Hopes For 3g Licence, Export Push

[george]

True hopes for 3G licence, export push

BANGKOK: -- True Corp hopes to expand its business to the overseas market next year, beginning with content exports.

It also hopes to see the national telecom regulator being able to grant the long-awaited 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences in 2010, chief executive officer Supachai Chearavanont said yesterday after being asked what is the True group's New Year wish.

True's businesses range from fixed telephones and broadband Internet to cellular and pay-TV services.

He said group highlights this year included the True Move's launch of its cellular service on Apple's i-Phone 3G, both existing and new models. He is confident that combined sales will reach the target of 100,000 units this year.

True Move is the exclusive authorised cellular service provider of iPhone 3G devices in Thailand.

Next year, True broadband business will also raise the industry bar in terms of connection speed for fixed-line broadband Internet service by introducing 30 megabits per second. It has already made the service available with a connection speed of 16Mbps.

Supachai added that True Move was ready to invest in 3G wireless broadband service once it obtained a 3G-2.1GHz licence from the National Telecommunications Commission. He hopes the licences will be granted by the middle of next year.

The NTC has proposed the auctioning of four 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences, but has yet to finalise the auction rules.

True Corp might either have True Move seek a partnership to jointly invest in the 3G service or list True Move in the stock exchange to raise funds for 3G investment.

True Move has more than 13 million mobile-phone subscribers, of which about 1 million are post-paid users.

The True group invests about Bt8 billion per year on business development, of which half is poured into True Move business. True Move is expected to spend an additional Bt5 billion per year on 3G business development once it gets a licence.

The 3G wireless broadband service will boost demand for wireless data. Supachai said that with the 3G-2.1GHz service, True Move's non-voice contribution to its overall revenue is expected to surge to 50 per cent in the next three years from the present 20 per cent.

He added that if half the population could access broadband service - whether via wire-line or wireless networks - this would contribute Bt1 trillion to economic growth.

Yesterday, True Corp launched www.trueplookpanya.com, featuring educational content for an online community of children.

The company developed the homepage, content and related systems at a cost of Bt20 million.

-- The Nation 2009-12-09

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