CAT Goes 4G: Hutchison Sell CDMA Business To CAT Telecom

[george]

Hutchison sell business to CAT Telecom

BANGKOK: -- Hutchison Telecom has agreed to sell to CAT Telecom its telecom business in Thailand, including its CDMA cellular network in 25 provinces, CAT CEO Jirayuth Rungsrithong said last week.

However, he declined to disclose the price that CAT recently proposed to the Hong Kong telecom operator after CAT's board gave the go ahead to the plan in the middle of this month.

CAT is expected to offer Bt5 billion-Bt7.5 billion for Hutchison's business, assets and Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1-x network in 25 provinces.

Jirayuth said CAT already informed the Information and Communications Technology Ministry about the proposal and will soon submit the plan for the approval of the National Economic and Social Development Board, and later the Cabinet.

It was a wise investment for CAT to buy the assets and network, he said.

CAT and Hutchison Telecom have been in talks for awhile on a possible deal for their joint venture Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia, which markets a cellular service on the CDMA network in 25 provinces under the Hutch brand.

Hutchison-CAT leases the network from BFKT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom.

CAT also provides a separate cellular service on its own CDMA network in the other 51 provinces in the country. It wants to combine the two networks to provide a nationwide service.

Jirayuth said that once the purchase plan is approved by the Cabinet, CAT will ask Hutchison Telecom to upgrade the network in 25 provinces to the complete Evolution-Data Optimised (EVDO) broadband cellular technology, in order to make it compatible with CAT's EVDO-CDMA network in the other provinces.

The Hutch network upgrade is expected to take four to five months to complete. After that CAT will launch the CDMA nationwide service under a new brand.

The service will use neither the CAT nor the Hutch brand, but he declined to elaborate.

CAT has pinned its hopes on the planned nationwide CDMA business to be its main revenue source.

It aims to elevate the entire network to the 4G wireless broadband technology in the near future.

CAT generated total revenue of Bt39.67 billion during the first 11 months of this year, down 2 per cent year on year. Net profit was Bt7.13 billion, down 4 per cent.

Without concession revenue, CAT would have posted revenue of Bt15.21 billion during the period.

Hutchison-CAT's post-paid mobile-phone service has high monthly average revenue per user of Bt700. Its pre-paid service averages just Bt100.

The company brings in revenue of about Bt4.8 billion per year from about one million subscribers.

The separate CDMA networks of Hutch and CAT have yet to reach an interconnection payment agreement with any cellular operators.

The National Telecommunications Commission's interconnection regulations mandate the networks of callers to pay an interconnection fee to the networks of the receivers at mutually agreed rates.

Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication and True Move have reached bilateral agreements on the interconnection fee at Bt1 per minute.

The CDMA service on the planned merged network would still do well, though one day it would be subject to the interconnection fee payment, Jirayuth added.

-- The Nation 2009-12-29

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[livinthailandos]

1. CAT to buy the assets and network ( create more of a monopoly I'm sure TOT will love this, sure CAT & TOT can make more money now)

2. CAT aims to elevate the entire network to the 4G wireless broadband technology in the near future. ( near future my butt. We can't even get the whole process of 3G licensings done. Seriously it seems like it has taken like 6 years to finally get 3G anywhere thats assuming it even goes ahead. On top operators are going to try to make money off of 3G for some time. Near future they say. I say more or less sometime after 2020 we might get to the point of doing 4G if were lucky

[Crushdepth]

It aims to elevate the entire network to the 4G wireless broadband technology in the near future.

[Stumbo]

It aims to elevate the entire network to the 4G wireless broadband technology in the near future.

They are referring to 2020.

[gotlost]

4G, not in our life time.

[infernalman7]

^^ especially most of the LTE architecture will still require 3G. If 3G never materializes in Thailand, don't even wish for 4G.