Bandwith To Be Out Of Cat's Grip

[wimster]

According to today's BK Post per January 1st, 2006 the so called International Internet Gateway services will be liberalised, and not be under control of the state-owned CAT anymore.

IF this will really happen (you never know here), it will be the best news for all internet users.

Prices of DSL will most lilkely drop, and speeds will (hopefully) be more "real".

[moonoi]

According to today's BK Post per January 1st, 2006 the so called International Internet Gateway services will be liberalised, and not be under control of the state-owned CAT anymore.

IF this will really happen (you never know here), it will be the best news for all internet users.

Prices of DSL will most lilkely drop, and speeds will (hopefully) be more "real".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you read all of the article though it says that the IIG gateway will still be maintained by CAT, so although companies can negotiate directly with international providers they still have to pay for use of CATs' IIG infrastructure.

Don't think there will be much change in prices until the cat 3 licenses mentioned in the article become available and over providers can build there own IIG infrastructure and cut CAT out of the loop

[lomatopo]

Link to story , (note the new look of The Bangkok Post's website).

There have been several threads here about the NTC's decision to issue new IIG licenses. I think someone may have been granted one (TOT?) but I can't remember the details?

Many ISPs are locked into 5 year deals with CAT, so that needs to be worked out as well.

Should be interesting to see what happens. I wish the local press would follow-up on the details of the IIG licensing process but those details might not exist?

BTW, on this CSLoxInfo map it does appear as though they are bypassing CAT for an OC-3 to SingTel?

[wimster]

I did read that. If you would have read my post, you see I started of with the word IF...

It's ALL to be seen, at least it is moving, and HOPEFULLY we will have better (faster) international internet connections.

According to today's BK Post per January 1st, 2006 the so called International Internet Gateway services will be liberalised, and not be under control of the state-owned CAT anymore.

IF this will really happen (you never know here), it will be the best news for all internet users.

Prices of DSL will most lilkely drop, and speeds will (hopefully) be more "real".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you read all of the article though it says that the IIG gateway will still be maintained by CAT, so although companies can negotiate directly with international providers they still have to pay for use of CATs' IIG infrastructure.

Don't think there will be much change in prices until the cat 3 licenses mentioned in the article become available and over providers can build there own IIG infrastructure and cut CAT out of the loop

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[wimster]

Same here (via Korea)

http://webcorp.asianet.co.th/eh/linkinter/linkstatus.php

Link to story , (note the new look of The Bangkok Post's website).

There have been several threads here about the NTC's decision to issue new IIG licenses. I think someone may have been granted one (TOT?) but I can't remember the details?

Many ISPs are locked into 5 year deals with CAT, so that needs to be worked out as well.

Should be interesting to see what happens. I wish the local press would follow-up on the details of the IIG licensing process but those details might not exist?

BTW, on this CSLoxInfo map it does appear as though they are bypassing CAT for an OC-3 to SingTel?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[lomatopo]

I assume these int'l links are the result of some sort of joint partnership/investment? And that there may be some rules about what sort of traffic can be routed over those links? has anyone done a traceroute to see if, as a True or CSLoxinfo DSL user, your traffic is going via those links to Korea or Singapore?

True does appear to have the most int'l bandwidth? Good link.

[jackr]

Hope it comes to fruition and the grabbing SOBs running CAT get a foot up their collective arse!!!

[Firefoxx]

The root of all evils for most of Thailand's problems has been government entities and their control of everything under the sky. In the communications sector, this has meant that CAT (the Communications Authority of Thailand, now CAT Telecom) has been the main obstruction to modernization. They traditionally dictated all things relating to communications, and had/have the monopoly on many things. One example is the local gateway... at first, it was controlled by NECTEC, but then CAT came along with its own local gateway and strongarmed all ISPs to use it.

As for international links, ISPs were allowed to connect on their own to international providers... provided that they paid CAT a huge fee (for doing basically nothing). So, by and by, it was cheaper to go through CAT's own IIG (which connects to the same providers), since that way, there is *still* CAT's fee, but less than the fee for connecting directly (and still much more than no fee, which civilized countries enjoy).

There was also the farce of setting up ISPs... originally, if you wanted to set up an ISP, you had to give CAT a significant amount of shares ... for free, to do nothing. Recently, CAT has lessened this burden by benignly offering to sell the shares back to the ISP (the shares it got for free). Loxinfo was able to buy back those shares for a cool 12 million. Of course, that's a pittance to CAT, about as much as the retirement package of a single employee.

It's great to be both a government entity and a money maker. You call all the shots.

[bluebear]

cant wait. just done a line speed test and am getting download speed at 161k on a 1MB line

[udon]

Full story:

Bandwidth to be out of CAT's grip

Freedom of choice for Internet providers

KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

International Internet gateway services will be liberalised effective Jan 1, the National Telecommunications Commission announced yesterday. The decision breaks the long-standing monopoly held by state-owned CAT Telecom for international Internet gateway (IIG) services by allowing Internet service providers to lease bandwidth directly from international providers.

In the short term, CAT Telecom will remain the sole gateway for international connections, although private operators will now be able to negotiate bandwidth links with overseas providers on their own.

But within several months, the NTC will liberalise gateway services as well, allowing private operators to build their own transmission links with overseas networks.

Local ISPs and telecom experts have long argued that high Internet-access costs and limited broadband penetration in Thailand directly stem from the IIG monopoly held by CAT Telecom.

The NTC hopes that broadband Internet prices will eventually fall as competition among ISPs increase, benefiting consumers and the overall market, according to commission chairman Gen Choochart Promprasit.

He said Internet fees in Thailand were well above rates in other countries, resulting in a ''digital divide'' in the country.

NTC secretary-general Suranant Wongwittayakamchorn said that IIG services had been monopolised by CAT Telecom under its long-standing position as a state enterprise overseeing international telecommunications and postal services.

CAT Telecom and its sister agency, TOT Corp, were both corporatised in 2003. Authorities plan to eventually list both companies on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, with regulatory duties transferred to the NTC.

CAT's hold on IIG has limited growth of domestic Internet services, with ISP executives saying the state agency has been slow to increase international bandwidth to cope with the growing popularity of the Internet among consumers.

Starting next year, ISPs will be able to apply for ''Type 2'' licences, allowing them to lease bandwidth directly from global telecom providers.

Mr Suranant said private operators could negotiate directly for their international connections, giving the market greater flexibility overall.

But while ISPs will be able to negotiate on their own for international connections, transmissions will still be routed through CAT's international gateway and FLAG, an undersea fibre-optic system that connects Thailand with many other countries.

Mr Suranant said CAT overall should not be affected by the regulatory change, as it would still generate income from the use of its bandwidth infrastructure, even though connections would be negotiated by the ISPs themselves.

Gateway services for operators with type-3 licences, used by operators with their own networks, would also be liberalised in the next three months, he said.

The NTC yesterday also announced that ISPs holding a type-1 licence, covering telecom operators with no network of their own, could now provide VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services openly.

CS Loxinfo managing director Anant Kaewruamwong welcomed the decision to liberalise the Internet market, but questioned whether costs and access fees would genuinely fall as CAT Telecom remained the sole infrastructure gateway for international Internet links.

Liberalising gateway licences for type-3 operators, on the other hand, would definitely result in lower access charges and greater market competition, once ISPs invested in their own international gateway infrastructure, Mr Anant said.

Athueck Asvanont, the vice-chairman of True Corp, also applauded the NTC decision, and said his company was certainly interested in setting up its own gateway services.

True Corp dominates the broadband Internet market with some 400,000 subscribers. CS Loxinfo, a unit of Shin Corp, has around 300,000 Internet subscribers.

--------

Bangkok Post 29/12/2005

Great news......... If true

[samran]

It has been on the cards for a while, as the government actually does realise that having CAT at the gatekeeper is a farcical situation. So technically, 'liberalisation' will occur on the 1st of Jan.

What remains to be seen is how the market will develop. I suspect, that not much will be too clear to begin with, and but that private companies will start pushing the envelope a bit while the vacuume exists, and that we should end up with quite a nice little competitive market with fast connections come mid year.

CAT will moan and groan about the situation, and perhaps put up some sort of last stand defiance, but that is to be expected from a soon to be extinct state enterprise looking for a reason to justify its existence.

[Plus]

I concur, except for the part "government realises that...."

Credits to NTC, for actually starting doing something.

[Firefoxx]

Yes, I'm surprised that it actually happened. The NTC was a long time in coming, being blocked left and right, delayed here and there, by people who realized that it would cut off their revenue streams. Even now, I wonder at how much authority the NTC really has, since many of its decisions have been opposed by people in the government.

Thailand actually has had broadband (cable and ADSL) service for several years, since it started only a couple of years behind the US and Japan. But look at how long it took to become popular (albeit crippled). I wonder how much longer it will take to become practical.

[Hikage]

As the guy from True stated, prices and speed will become more favorable when more type 3 licences are issued. Expect there will be long waiting queue and much red tape. Also the physical infrastructure that will need to be laid down so ISPs can bypass CAT IIG will take time. Don't expect to see much to any improvement until 2007.

[moonoi]

I guess the real reason this is happening is because Thailand is obliged to have free competition in the telecoms sector as part of WTO obligations......and this is part of this "liberalisation" of the market

[Abandon]

it was bound to open up pretty fast since Taksin's TRUE has had problems with CAT - so suddenly it is in the governments members interest to do something about it.

I wonder how far they will carry on the extneded censorship they have been introducing once ISPs get more control back.

[sierra01]

I guess the real reason this is happening is because Thailand is obliged to have free competition in the telecoms sector as part of WTO obligations......and this is part of this "liberalisation" of the market 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is liberalisation also planned for the banking sector? Now we have TOT and CAT crying about their soon to shrink profits, will we have all the banks crying too? I hope so, they're very inefficient and very much NOT customer friendly.

[samran]

I concur, except for the part "government realises that...."

Credits to NTC, for actually starting doing something.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, government does realise. Ministry of Finance which oversees the whole process pretty much realises. The only people who are truely in denial are CAT themselves.

The government has been working for quite a while quietly taking away any of CAT revenue streams, mainly in the form of the post office, which I believe used to be under CAT.

Additionally, it was consititutionally mandated that the NTC be established. The extent that the NTC is responsible for this I am unsure of, as some else has already said, it is part of Thailand's WTO commitments to open up the market.

[phuketsiam]

Its a move in the right direction, but don't hold your breath