Thai Court Drops 3G Bombshell

[rotary]

Love him or loathe him, you can bet this mess would probably have been solved if Thaksin was around.

They have been running around in circles saying that Thaksin damaged the country. One can hardly say that this mess is in the benefit of the "country" can one?

Ofcourse he would have solved. He would have made sure he made billions of baht from it, too.

Progress has a price. See Suvarnabhumi.

If Suvarnabhumi is progress I can do without progress. In my opinion Suvarnabhumi is a step back from Don Muaeng.

[draftvader]

Love him or loathe him, you can bet this mess would probably have been solved if Thaksin was around.

They have been running around in circles saying that Thaksin damaged the country. One can hardly say that this mess is in the benefit of the "country" can one?

Ofcourse he would have solved. He would have made sure he made billions of baht from it, too.

Progress has a price. See Suvarnabhumi.

If Suvarnabhumi is progress I can do without progress. In my opinion Suvarnabhumi is a step back from Don Muaeng.

A squelchy step back at that!!

[Arkady]

CAT and TOT are now mere shells with no meaningful business operations that should be mercifully put to sleep for the greater good of the country. It is a disgraceful that a small group of corrupt state enterprise officials can hold the entire population to protect their personal benefits. Previously CAT and TOT operated all the country's telecom services between them and then became regulators and concession holders on behalf of the government when the government decided it didn't have the funding or expertise to continue developing the telecom sector as a public good. The big mistake made was when CAT and TOT were corporatized and were supposed to compete in the sector with a view to being privatized. At that point the government should have transferred the mobile phone concessions to the Finance Ministry but somehow it was too weak to do it. Now the Thai people have to pay the price for this ineptitude and put up with this rent seeking behaviour in the spurious name of "protecting national interests". In fact the national interests are revenue streams that don't belong to these companies that they manage to use as smokescreen to pretend they are operating real businesses and justify thousands of redundant employees and huge management perks.

[Arkady]

 

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

and this is a FORUM FOR FARANGS to voice their opinion 

Don't like it  don't read it Samrit, whoever you are. 

Go home, have somtam and be happy.

I was told to go home by my next door neighbour who likes to make a lot of noise singing Chinese karaoke because the telephone engineer cut a branch of the tree that grows on common ground in front of his house in order to run a line to my house. He passed the friendly message through his Lao maid that he incidentally doesn't allow out or to have holidays to my maid, who is Thai and has a great deal of freedom. So I passed the message back to suggest he should go back to China, if he is so intolerant of foreigners in Thailand. Perhaps the same advice would also be applicable to Samrit, if he is indeed Thai which I doubt.

[hammered]

Trying to introduce anything in Thailand that in any way upsets the bureacracy status quo is very very difficult. It is more important for the bureacracy to keep its hallowed position in society and all the benefits it has than for the country to move forward. Lets hope the courts accept the appeal although the smart money is on the bureacracy scuppering this one some way or other

[schmutzie]

Yes, it seems a mess.

Maybe a stupid question, but why is the auction/bidding being hosted at a resort in Hua Hin...?

Call me cynical but I'm thinking lots of telco and government dons secluded in individual suites with a flurry of young execs running around amongst scantily clad girls, caviar and champagne. And a few generals making sure everything is done by the book. It's just something I'm making up of course.

Edited September 17, 2010 by schmutzie

[TAWP]

Let me get that straight: One government agency (CAT) is suing another government agency (NTC) because the plaintiff government agency is afraid of loosing money if the government plan will be implemented.

Well, here we see our Government at Work, always the welfare of the public in sight and clear leadership!

And is shows again what happens if two government agencies without a clear plan fall into a deep conflict of interest between serving the public and filling its own pockets. Perhaps the NTC should sue CAT and TOT for dissolution and establish an agency with only the public interest in mind. Wake up, this is the 21st century!

Why big government is a bad thing is becoming apparent even for those outside my circles...

[Sateev]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

Such an intelligent comment, Don't try to find a solution to a problem, just get rid of anyone that criticizes

anything about the country. With a mind set like yours, Thailand will remain a second world country and

unable to sort out even the most basic problems that arise.

Just a small point: Thailand is a THIRD WORLD country.

First, Second and Third world are NOT a hierarchy of relative development. 'First World' refers to developed countries who are aligned with Western, so-called free-market economies, while 'Second World' countries are/were those developed countries aligned with the Soviet Communist bloc. 'Third World' countries are the rest of the developing world, alignment notwithstanding..

As for the trolls here, suggesting those with an opinion go home - I suggest it's even money whether they are even Thai. Trolls are sometimes mighty clever.

Sateev

[TAWP]

If your own countries were perfect, why did you come to thailand? It was your choice. If you cannot hack it go back.

Only those that cannot 'hack it' would remain quiet. We others try to improve things for our extended family.

[AgentSmith]

Just an FYI, you're not really missing anything. 3G is a bit of a joke - at least in the USA - from my experience. Unless a website is optimized for a mobile device, it loads about as fast as molasses in January - sorry, rubber sap in the Cool Season! Almost all sites are not optimized, and of those that are, maybe half adequately take into account screen size of the mobile devices. Almost completely useless, and easier to just dial the phone to get the info you seek.

I'll use wifi on my iPhone until 4G arrives, and just live happily unconnected until that day arrives.

Well at least in The Netherlands lots of websites actually do also exist as a mobile version. For instance the national train company, most banks, news sites and many other websites nowadays also maintain a downscaled version of their normal sites. It is great to be able to check any train delays on your mobile (m.ns.nl if you want to check it out, also in English). But with recent smartphones and a proper browser you can now even easily visit normal websites since both connection and processor speed are fast enough to handle it. I did anyway with a phone I bought 2,5 years ago (HTC Diamond). In The Netherlands they have 3,5 G by the way going by the technical term HSDPA. This is MUCH faster than standard UMTS with most people having 1 or 2 Megabits per second but going up to 28,8 Mbps nowadays.

And then I came to Thailand...

Edited September 17, 2010 by AgentSmith

[nikster]

TOT files legal complaint with Central Administrative Court against National Telecom Commission, saying 3G licence auction is unlawful /MCOT

This is when you need the prime minister to step up, and call both CAT and TOT back. They're state owned companies, no? Where's Abhisit, here's his chance to shine. Everyone knows that TOT and CAT are just trying to stall to protect their concession fees. Why should the whole country have to suffer from that (not to mention become a laughing stock as the only country left in the world without 3G).

Edited September 17, 2010 by nikster

[JetsetBkk]

I recognise CAT and TOT. I wonder who the others are?

[Markaew]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

AMAZING Thailand. If we want to have corruption and want to stay in the 20th century (this is the 21st century btw) and keep our people ignorant and you don't like - go home!

Spoken perfectly Rama. The Thais are quite comfortable with their corruption. It allows them to fleece foreigners with no retribution.

And as a note, there seems to be more Thais than foreigners in this forum these days.

[VictorOne]

While in other news...every other country in the world are staring migrate over to 4G. We might as well face it, Thailand will probably never get anything faster than EDGE...what a joke!!

You're right. This country is an absolute joke. It was not so long ago that they were promototing the realm as an IT hub.

There are a million and one reasons that the realm will go nowhere.

They need to stick to growing rice

[Markaew]

Also, I like this advertisement in the right column. "Build a House in Thailand"

It should also say, "With our built-in corruption, you can build a house, you wife can take it and throw you out on the street."

Then you can can go home, right Rama? Fleece first, go home later.

[IanSalisbury]

then you samrit should get a life ha ha lol

[selftaopath]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

I wonder what prompts an individual(s) to make a statement like this. Is it said out of patriotism, fear of change, xenophobia, or just plain ignorance?

[Markaew]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

I wonder what prompts an individual(s) to make a statement like this. Is it said out of patriotism, fear of change, xenophobia, or just plain ignorance?

My guess is ignorance.

[cyb]

I recognise CAT and TOT. I wonder who the others are?

I'm sure I know the fat one in the middle, Name begins with T I think

[moskito]

I have had True 3G for a year, works great. Works in most major cities in Thailand. Stop the bitching and switch to True lol.

Dont tell me your internet is FAST, before you checked out connections in other countries. ThaiNet is rediculous slowly, I was shocked about the speed in US and Germany last year.

There is internet since more then 15 years now available to the public YEARS, not month!

I worked for a network solution tool company in Singapore. ToT was our last customer in Asia, so are all other Thaicompanies. They wont buy anything new if their salesmen dont get

a commission for themselfs, so they keep the old stuff as long as possible TiT :jap:

[mojo80]

Makes you wonder, if Iraq, North Korea, Africa and India, can get there 3g up and running and Thailand cant. What a joke, it truely is a laughing stock of a country sometimes

[TAWP]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

I wonder what prompts an individual(s) to make a statement like this. Is it said out of patriotism, fear of change, xenophobia, or just plain ignorance?

Out of trolling.

SamriT is neither Thai nor a girl.

[neverdie]

Out of trolling.

SamriT is neither Thai nor a girl.

BINGO......We have a winner

[lifeincnx]

I have had True 3G for a year, works great. Works in most major cities in Thailand. Stop the bitching and switch to True lol.

Got news for you pal... your only running on a 2.5Ghz network but paying a lot more. Plus True's pseudo-3G is not even available outside of major city hubs where it is sorely needed. Vietnam had this stuff in place years ago and is already deploying 4G. This is a pure case of having your cake and eating it to by a nationalized telecom industry with no competition and even less innovation.

[selftaopath]

I had a dream. We skipped 3G and went directly to 4G. It's only when I tried to look at the calendar to see what year that I woke up

Mind you both 3G and 4G may be a wee bit too expensive for the average Thai. Thai school kids seem more than happy with what they can do with what they have now.

How many remember or know that some time ago Google came to Land of Scams. They wanted to "set up shop" and hire people. But after experiencing the typical CRAP here they bailed out taking the wonderful opportunity to another neighboring country.

I agree with others who understand the rich power mongers are drinking the life blood of Thailand and her people for personal gain.

hel_l, I'm living in the sticks and if I didn't purchase an Air Card - with a whooping 236kps - I would have nothing. And yes I did check w/ TOT several times.

[loser1]

THIS IS THAILAND. Don't like, then go home.

AMAZING Thailand. If we want to have corruption and want to stay in the 20th century (this is the 21st century btw) and keep our people ignorant and you don't like - go home!

Is this poster 'Rama' a Thai person? As the post he has made here makes out that he is talking about HIS people? He does have the best English skills i have seen for a non Brit/US, well done!!.

Or is he one of the many deluded TV members who thinks that they are actually Thai ?

[lifeincnx]

I had a dream. We skipped 3G and went directly to 4G. It's only when I tried to look at the calendar to see what year that I woke up

Mind you both 3G and 4G may be a wee bit too expensive for the average Thai. Thai school kids seem more than happy with what they can do with what they have now.

How many remember or know that some time ago Google came to Land of Scams. They wanted to "set up shop" and hire people. But after experiencing the typical CRAP here they bailed out taking the wonderful opportunity to another neighboring country.

I agree with others who understand the rich power mongers are drinking the life blood of Thailand and her people for personal gain.

hel_l, I'm living in the sticks and if I didn't purchase an Air Card - with a whooping 236kps - I would have nothing. And yes I did check w/ TOT several times.

I'm in the same boat - live outside of Chiang Mai and the only decent (not decent but doable) connection I could get is with CAT's CDMA technology and a passive antenna on my roof.

[SantiSuk]

At least this entirely commercial argie bargy is being played out in public and through the courts. Seems like that's a good thing even if it elongates the process. As usual TVers jump to denigrate without thinking.

[BettleBailey]

Maybe a bid by the Siam Cement company will speed things up. This is terrible for Thailand. Knuckle dragging caveman business sense. I picutre a meeting with run by a dung throwing monkey. Who is going to want to take Thailand serious for future investments? This certainly is Thai style, lets set up a reglatory commision so we can optimize back alley payments.

[samran]

CAT and TOT are now mere shells with no meaningful business operations that should be mercifully put to sleep for the greater good of the country. It is a disgraceful that a small group of corrupt state enterprise officials can hold the entire population to protect their personal benefits. Previously CAT and TOT operated all the country's telecom services between them and then became regulators and concession holders on behalf of the government when the government decided it didn't have the funding or expertise to continue developing the telecom sector as a public good. The big mistake made was when CAT and TOT were corporatized and were supposed to compete in the sector with a view to being privatized. At that point the government should have transferred the mobile phone concessions to the Finance Ministry but somehow it was too weak to do it. Now the Thai people have to pay the price for this ineptitude and put up with this rent seeking behaviour in the spurious name of "protecting national interests". In fact the national interests are revenue streams that don't belong to these companies that they manage to use as smokescreen to pretend they are operating real businesses and justify thousands of redundant employees and huge management perks.

The guy in charge of the State Enterprise Policy Office during that critical time is now the Permanent Secretary of the MOF. Don't hold your breath for much to happen.