Mobile-Loving Thais Still Waiting For Full 3G

[Lite Beer]

Mobile-loving Thais still waiting for full 3G

FOCUS by Janesara Fugal

BANGKOK, October 2, 2011 (AFP) - While BlackBerrys and iPhones are fast becoming must-have accessories for many urban Thais, mobile Internet in the kingdom is still struggling to get out of the slow lane.

A long-running business tussle means that as other nations -- including impoverished Laos -- move to introduce faster 4G technology, Thailand has yet to fully roll out 3G, a decade after it was first launched in Japan.

Third-generation -- 3G -- technology allows mobile phone users to surf the Internet and download music and videos, and Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia not to have full 3G apart from military-dominated Myanmar.

"I bought this phone about three years ago because I thought I could use 3G but it has taken me three years to be able to actually use (the service)," said 25-year-old Bangkok resident Tiabtawan Limjittrakorn.

In contrast Cambodia has had 3G network since 2006, enabling mobile users there to access online content at a faster pace than their Thai neighbours.

A year ago a Thai court halted a 3G licence auction at the last minute after state-owned giant CAT argued that then-regulator the National Telecommunications Commission, had no authority to conduct the bidding.

The next attempt is expected in 2012.

CAT and TOT, another state-owned company, have lucrative rights to grant concessions for second-generation services and face a loss in revenue should operators acquire 3G licences and switch over to the new technology.

There is some limited coverage in some areas as the three major Thai telecoms operators -- Advanced Info Service (AIS), Dtac and True -- have side-stepped the licence issue by upgrading network data transmission speeds, building their own phone masts and providing 3G free of charge.

Another consortium of firms offers pockets of high speed coverage, although outside of these they have no signal at all.

The situation has turned Thailand's smartphone users into experts at navigating the patchwork of services.

Some people juggle a variety of phones and SIM cards -- one for home, one for the train to work and maybe a third for the shopping mall.

Of Thailand's 21 million Internet users, 17.6 million connect to the web through their mobiles, according to research group Nielsen.

Social media is rocketing, with a 75 percent jump in the number of Facebook accounts to almost 12 million users since the beginning of the year.

William Wang, director of telecom practice at Nielsen Thailand, said the kingdom has "one of the fastest smartphone take up rates in Southeast Asian countries", with eight percent growth in 2010.

Promotions for discount smartphones are wildly popular, with a recent iPhone offer attracting a crowd of thousands at a Bangkok shopping centre, many of whom camped overnight

.

"With smartphones and the iPhone in particular, I think you have the trend factor coming into play -- it's new, it's hip and it's a status symbol," Moody's analyst Laura Acres told AFP.

"People are lining up wanting to use these things but if you are going to pay the money, you want to use it for what it is designed for, you want it to be more than a fashion item. Operators must be champing at the bit to really have these platforms working."

True's total sales of smartphones soared to around three million this year, from 1.6 million in 2009, according to research from mobile maker HTC.

The operator's 3G chief Piroon Paireepairit said his group expects the number of smartphones on its network to triple in the next two years and said 3G would be the "number one key strategy" in the coming years.

Without data networks like 3G, "smartphones won't be smart," he said.

Telecoms and technology consultancy Ovum forecasts almost 30 million 3G subscribers in Thailand by the end of 2016.

It is hoped that a new body -- the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) -- will be able to break the licence deadlock.

Anudith Nakornthap, Information Communication and Technology minister, said the government was "concerned" that Thailand did not yet have full 3G and expected it to be an "urgent" priority for the incoming NBTC.

But Moody's Acres said the "whole regulatory environment is so political", with "so many competing agendas".

"It is quite remarkable an entire industry has been stifled because of lack of a comprehensive regulatory framework," she said.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2011-10-02

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There is some limited coverage in some areas as the three major Thai telecoms operators -- Advanced Info Service (AIS), Dtac and True -- have side-stepped the licence issue by upgrading network data transmission speeds, building their own phone masts and providing 3G free of charge.

The author of this article, and the info quoted above, is a bit behind the times and out of date....

Yes, True pretty broadly and DTAC to a very limited extend had been offering free trial 3G access in Bangkok in the past...

But that's no longer the case now... True Move H is selling their 3G service in Bangkok and elsewhere with pretty hefty post-paid subscription prices.... And both AIS and TOT have already begun expanding their paid, not free, 3G offerings to consumers in areas beyond Bangkok...

It's true Thailand doesn't have anything close to a nationwide 3G coverage as yet... But it's a bit of an understatement to say the current 3G coverage available now is only "some limited coverage in some areas." True right now is covering Bangkok and a fair number of the other larger cities around the country. And the other telcoms are trying to follow.

[givenall]

As usual, Thais are great in presentation but suck in delivery.I see 3G advertisements all over but my phone coverage is very bad

[rkidlad]

I have a Blackberry Bold and use AIS. I bought the 3G package but was still to see the 3G symbol on my phone. When I went to the shop, they told me my their 3G didn't support my phone in Bangkok. I've had 3G on my phone in 5 different countries.

If the people at AIS can't even support 3G on a Blackberry Bold, there really is no hope.

[skippybangkok]

we are getting 3G inspite of the Govt, not because of it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The 3G frequencies jumble is a bit of a mess, especially when it comes to combining particular 3G phones with particular Thai 3G providers...

DTAC and True are on the 850 Mhz band

AIS is on the 900 Mhz band.

TOT/I-Mobile are on the 2100 Mhz band.

The supposed future nationwide 3G services is supposed to be on the 2100 Mhz band....

Most mobile phones, with some exceptions, only are capable of 3G on a couple of those bands, but generally not all...

850/2100 and 900/2100 are two different common phone combinations....

Phones that can handle 850, 900 and 2100 for 3G are fewer and far between.

So it's absolutely something to be aware of when a] purchasing a new phone and/or b] switching to a new Thai mobile provider.

[roamer]

Be careful you don't get a situation like I'm experiencing in the UK. I went with 3mobile(hutchinson). They had built a 3G only network but if you were in an area with limited or no coverage you would be switched over to the 2G signal of Orange so at least you could make calls.

Problem was the 3G coverage was so poor many calls were being routed through other networks which was costing them too much money so they cancelled the arrangement.

Net result is that in many areas my 3G phone is no more than a toy as it would be in much of LOS, worse than that its a toy I can't even make calls on!

Also worth noting that regardless of the network your on the 3G signal seems to be crap at penetrating buildings.....

[Sam Drucker]

I just started receiving 3G (HSPDA) this week on my phone here in Khon Kaen (city). I am an AIS customer. Some places and times the speed is still slow, but I've run several tests with the Speedtest android app and (in general) I'm pulling speeds to rival my home internet connection . . . around 3 Mb/s download and 500 kb/s upload.

[woodyleonhard]

There is some limited coverage in some areas as the three major Thai telecoms operators -- Advanced Info Service (AIS), Dtac and True -- have side-stepped the licence issue by upgrading network data transmission speeds, building their own phone masts and providing 3G free of charge.

The author of this article, and the info quoted above, is a bit behind the times and out of date....

But that's no longer the case now... True Move H is selling their 3G service in Bangkok and elsewhere with pretty hefty post-paid subscription prices.... And both AIS and TOT have already begun expanding their paid, not free, 3G offerings to consumers in areas beyond Bangkok...

It's true Thailand doesn't have anything close to a nationwide 3G coverage as yet... But it's a bit of an understatement to say the current 3G coverage available now is only "some limited coverage in some areas." True right now is covering Bangkok and a fair number of the other larger cities around the country. And the other telcoms are trying to follow.

You're absolutely correct, and the author of this article is, simply, wrong.

AIS and TrueMove-H are both available throughout Phuket. They have good but not great speeds. And they're anything but free!

The author of the article doesn't seem to understand the frequency problem - that we currently have "3G" (both HSPA and HSPA+) at 900 MHz and 850 MHz, respectively. But we don't have any of the "3G" or "4G" technologies at 2.1 GHz. That means, for example, that the original iPad will run on TrueMove-H's network, but it won't work on AIS's. The iPhone 3GS will also run on TrueMove-H, but won't run on AIS. The original Samsung Galaxy S will run on AIS's network, but it won't run in TrueMove-H's. And so on.

AFP should do their homework. I had a Live Wire column in the Phuket Gazette on this exact topictwo months ago. My Live Wire column in the Gazette out last Friday has an update.

[teko]

I had the i phone with the true package.

Got rid of it after a year.

Too slow, limited range and too expensive for what it was.

Maybe when they get their sh$$3 together I might reconsider.

[WEBLEDINK]

i can pickup radio when i clench my teeth! This is ridiculous to wait for something the whole world shares!

[Oberkommando]

Using 3.5G in Cambodia at the moment and it's working great.

As usual greed and corruption are the cause of the problem in Thailand.