Cat '' My '' 3G Could Be Cancelled To Prevent Legal Complications

[ThaiLife]

May 18, 2012

Thai ICT Minister Anudith Nakorntap has told state-owned TOT’s board to stop following the failed 3G business plan, that has so far cost $510 million (16 billion baht) with little to show after over two years of operations.

Anudith said that to date, fewer than half the planned 5,320 base stations have been rolled out and the telco had only around 200,000 users, less than one twelfth of the projected target of 2.5 million users.

Operational costs of the network exceeded revenue by a factor of four.

Anudith ordered TOT to come up a new business plan with strategy coming directly from the ICT Ministry. TOT will now have to report weekly into the State Enterprise Planning Office, chaired by Finance Minister Kittirat Na Ranong, with new short and long-term plans to be drawn up. The SEPO is also responsible for a post-concession survival plan for both of Thailand’s state owned telcos, TOT Corporation and CAT Telecom.

However, the ICT Minister said that TOT could not just keep adding base stations as that would only increase costs. He said that TOT should have known better than to enter a retail market as they could not compete with the private sector operators.

Meanwhile, Thai language daily Thairath has quoted an anonymous source within CAT Telecom’s board of directors saying that the board has decided to halt the controversial TrueMoveH 3G project after both the counter-corruption commission and the ICT Ministry have deemed the contract to be illegal.

The source said that CAT would end cooperation with TrueMove H, meaning that TrueMove H would no longer be able to get import licences for new equipment but might be able to continue operations on existing equipment for the time being. The source also said that CAT’s own 3G network My 3G, which runs on the TrueMove H network, is to be cancelled to prevent legal complications.

The roller coaster ride continues

http://www.telecomasia.net/content/thailands-cat-and-tot-turmoil

[loong]

Just when I am enjoying a decent internet connection at last, it seem that they are determined to throw a spanner in the works

I don't understand all the legal stuff about all this and just hope that the anonymous source proves to be talking out of his ass!

From the article, I would guess that those of us with CAT MY will be able to switch to true, but how long is "For the time being"?

[lomatopo]

It's far more likely that TrueMove H will have to cease operations rather than CAT My? But TrueMove should be able to ward off any challenges until the 3G auction? CAT also has an issue as it is rumored that TrueMove H are not sharing any revenue, perhaps as an attempt to keep their losses at a minimum?

TOT is looking at a HUGE loss, and the NBTC has given them like 10 days to come up with a business plan. Not sure this is a reasonable deadline considering their past performance as a moribund agency? They should just wholesale 3G to AIS, DTAC and/or TrueMove? (They are doing this a little with AIS via roaming agreements.)

It will be interesting to see what happens if/when the 3G auction actually takes place. I expect there may be major problems, depending on which three firms win, and who, if any, ends up with 4 tranches.

[monty]

Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but in Pattaya my Truemove-h simcard keeps roaming on the regualr True 3G net, where it always used to be on Truemove-H itself...

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Thaivisa Connect App

[fvw53]

I live on the 15th floor of an apartment building where they need the replace the telephone PABX etc...

In the mean time I use a 3G sim card from CAT which is place in a Huawei E5836 Wi-Fi router.

Can somebody tell me if the signals are coming from a satellite or from the same transmitters used for mobile phone.

I had good downloads until the rainy season started and I suspected clouds are a factor for the recent reduced download speed....but a friend says that clouids should not be a factor

In desperation I went to buy a True aircard with 7.2 Mb sim card but with is I can hardly receive any signal

[lomatopo]

or from the same transmitters used for mobile phone.

Same, same. Clouds shouldn't be an issue. Sometimes there can be issues on higher floors, depending on exact location.

I think that device supports 850/1900/2100 Mhz 3G so you could use: TrueMove H, DTAC/Happy or TOT/MVNOs.

If you are looking at True then try TrueMove H, and not TrueMove.

Edited May 18, 2012 by lomatopo

[JAS21]

or from the same transmitters used for mobile phone.

Same, same. Clouds shouldn't be an issue. Sometimes there can be issues on higher floors, depending on exact location.

I think that device supports 850/1900/2100 Mhz 3G so you could use: TrueMove H, DTAC/Happy or TOT/MVNOs.

If you are looking at True then try TrueMove H, and not TrueMove.

I applied for TrueMoveH a few days ago. They gave me the sim but said they are having problems at the moment and it could take two weeks or so for me to get it. They just said when my phone stops working put the new sim in.

[lomatopo]

I applied for TrueMoveH a few days ago. They gave me the sim but said they are having problems at the moment and it could take two weeks or so for me to get it. They just said when my phone stops working put the new sim in.

It sounds like you may be a post-paid TrueMove customer who is transferring their number (MNP) to TrueMove H? The MNP process can take a few as 3 days.

If your situation is different can you share any details?

If you are nor porting then you should be able to purchase a pre-paid TrueMove H SIM.

http://www.truemove-h.com/en/prepay/sim/prepay-sim-smartphone.aspx

http://www.truemove-h.com/en/prepay/sim/prepay-sim-iphone.aspx

[bobl]

I live on the 15th floor of an apartment building where they need the replace the telephone PABX etc...

In the mean time I use a 3G sim card from CAT which is place in a Huawei E5836 Wi-Fi router.

Can somebody tell me if the signals are coming from a satellite or from the same transmitters used for mobile phone.

I had good downloads until the rainy season started and I suspected clouds are a factor for the recent reduced download speed....but a friend says that clouids should not be a factor

In desperation I went to buy a True aircard with 7.2 Mb sim card but with is I can hardly receive any signal

Clouds, no they should not affect you too much.

However - a rainy season causes two things - first existing foliage is more moist than a dry season, and second it grows significantly.

Water and microwaves do not mix very well. In fact water's resistance to microwaves is what makes microwave ovens work...

The higher the frequency, the worse the problem... That's also why C-Band satellite dishes work better in the rain, than Ku-Band.

In short, if there is heavy foliage between you and your nearest tower, you may indeed notice a degradation in signal quality when it's wet.

[lomatopo]

In short, if there is heavy foliage between you and your nearest tower, you may indeed notice a degradation in signal quality when it's wet.

He's on the 15th floor! Not a lot of 50 m tall trees here, with or without foliage.

At any one time you may be registered on ~ multiple towers.

[bobl]

In short, if there is heavy foliage between you and your nearest tower, you may indeed notice a degradation in signal quality when it's wet.

He's on the 15th floor! Not a lot of 50 m tall trees here, with or without foliage.

At any one time you may be registered on ~ multiple towers.

Oops... Lol... I didn't notice he was on the 15th floor...

The argument's still valid, but unlikely to be the problem in his case...

[george]

In short, if there is heavy foliage between you and your nearest tower, you may indeed notice a degradation in signal quality when it's wet.

He's on the 15th floor! Not a lot of 50 m tall trees here, with or without foliage.

At any one time you may be registered on ~ multiple towers.

Which App are you using for this?

[bobl]

Which App are you using for this?

That looks like Open Signal Maps