Floods Delay CAT, TOT's Full 3G Service Launches

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Floods delay CAT, TOT's full 3G service launches

USANEE MONGKOLPORN

THE NATION

The flooding has prompted both CAT Telecom and TOT to postpone the full official launches of their 3G wireless-broadband services.

CAT will officially launch its retail 3G wireless-broadband service under the "My" brand upcountry next month, a change from the original plan to kick things off in Bangkok this month.

Senior executive vice president for wireless business Viroj Tocharoenvanith said the delay means CAT is unlikely to meet its customer target this year of between 40,000 and 50,000. The service has amassed around 10,000 customers, mostly in the provinces, since its soft launch in July.

The official launch will focus on provinces not affected by flooding.

CAT and True Corp group have collaborated to develop the 3G-High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) service using the 850 MHz spectrum. True Corp group's BFKT (Thailand) has installed HSPA network equipment for CAT, which |will use it to wholesale 3G capacity. The state agency has allocated part of the capacity to resell the service on its own under the "My" brand, focusing on corporate customers.

BFKT is slated to install more than 5,000 3G base stations nationwide for CAT this year; half are already done.

TOT president Anont Tubtiang said the flooding has delayed the state agency's rollout of its nationwide 3G network in some areas, prompting it to re-evaluate its plan to fully launch the service in 18 provinces this month.

TOT has already launched the service in some areas of the 18 provinces. It has allowed a certain number of customers to roam for the 3G service on Advanced Info Service's network when travelling outside its 3G network coverage.

In the 18 provinces, TOT has reportedly finished installing only 944 3G base stations out of a planned 3,500 by this month, and a projected total of 4,772 base stations nationwide by May. TOT is aiming for 1.2 million users of the new 3G network this year and 7 million by 2015.

-- The Nation 2011-11-14

[Skywalker69]

Any information on witch 18 provinces?

[BlackJack]

but people that have signed up for these services are still paying the full rate even though the systems not up and running and the floods have effected everything

still pay though

[bigbamboo]

So now 3G coming to Thailand is now delayed by the Great Flood. Anyone care to bet on the next reason?

[pooket]

So now 3G coming to Thailand is now delayed by the Great Flood. Anyone care to bet on the next reason?

Really. This just shows one more example of how inept and ineffectual Thailand and Thai people are. Malaysia has had 4G for 2 years, and Thailand is still fumbling around with 3G. This place is just too exasperating.

I realize the flood is a huge problem, but my point is this should've been dealt with years ago. 3G is old news in the outside world, but the outside world doesn't get very many opportunities to come into Thailand...