Thailand's new ICT minister to push for quick 3G
By Jon Fernquest |
Monday's Bangkok Post business section ran a story on the new Thai government plans to quickly upgrade to 3G mobile phone service.
Read more Bangkok Post articles on Media and Telecommunications.
(Photo on the right is of a young woman proudly displaying the many mobile phones that her parents have bought her)
Here is the article in full:
The race toward 3G
New minister sees no need to wait for regulators, which is music to the ears of mobile operators. By Komsan Tortermvasana and Chiratas NivatpuminMonday March 24, 2008
The thunderbolt cast by the Information and Communications Ministry last week has left DTAC happy indeed.
The second-ranked mobile operator appears to hold a slight advantage over its rivals in the race to 3G, thanks to the fact that its legacy 850MHz bandwidth can be quickly turned to provide high-speed, third-generation mobile broadband services.
True Move, the third-ranked operator, would seem to be in the weakest position, as it could face potentially lengthy talks with its concession holder, CAT Telecom, to gain the frequencies it needs.
And while market leader Advanced Info Service boasts that it will roll out High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology next month, handset limitations for its 900MHz and 1.9GHz systems could delay the start of commercial service.
The sea change in the telecom sector comes courtesy of ICT Minister Mun Patanotai, who last week announced his intention to see 3G services operational in Thailand within the next six to 12 months.
No need to wait for any licences from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Mr Mun said. Instead, AIS, DTAC and True Move could upgrade their existing networks and offer 3G under the same revenue-sharing concessions used for existing mobile services.
At a meeting on Friday with top telecom executives, Mr Mun called for all players to put past differences aside and move forward to develop the country's telecommunications infrastructure.
"I want both the public and private sectors to set aside their grievances and legal battles and instead to focus on HSPA. Full services should be made available within one year," Mr Mun said.
HSPA technology is already in use by more than 175 networks in dozens of countries. With more than 53 million subscribers in Thailand, the three main operators view 3G as a key step toward offering higher-value broadband internet and multimedia applications.
DTAC in January conducted a limited test of 3G services on the 850MHz frequency in co-operation with its concession partner, state-owned CAT Telecom. The state enterprise next week plans to submit a formal request to the NTC to deploy 3G technology.
AIS, meanwhile, is confident that it can be first to the market with HSPA as its own partner, TOT Corp, already has NTC approval to import 3G equipment.
AIS says it will begin importing 3G equipment from Huawei Technologies of China early next month, with commercial services expected to start in the fourth quarter.
The NTC has given approval to AIS to upgrade 30 base stations to HSPA in a programme expected to cost $20 million.
AIS president Wichien Mektrakarn expressed confidence that the company and TOT would clear any regulatory hurdles and be the first to offer 3G. Installation and testing for a limited rollout would likely take at least three months, he said. "Still, there are no guarantees that we will be first. But we can't stand still," Mr Wichien said.
DTAC chief executive Sigve Brekke is also buoyed by the new approach.
"The ICT minister has sent a strong signal to the market that it is ready to move ahead," he said, adding that his company was confident that it could quickly take a leading position.
But it remains unclear whether the Thai market is willing to pay for more expensive mobile services, considering that lower-cost prepaid accounts represent 90% of the existing customer base.
Efforts to promote faster GPRS and Edge services have had only a minor impact on the market, even with heavy marketing campaigns to promote MMS (multimedia messaging service), mobile TV and other broadband services.
Mr Brekke acknowledged that data services now appealed only to a minority, but he believes market growth will be rapid once mobile broadband became a reality. Thailand's underdeveloped broadband internet infrastructure meant huge growth potential for mobile broadband, he said.
Mr Brekke's confidence in the new 3G policy no doubt stems from a quirk of fate - the company's 850MHz frequency, allocated years ago for analogue use, is currently unused and can be upgraded to 3G with no disruption to existing customers.
AIS, on the other hand, already runs its 900MHz at full capacity with voice traffic, and running 3G on a higher 1.9GHz frequency would potentially require higher investment costs due to the need for more cell sites when compared with 850MHz. AIS hopes to access the 1.9GHz frequency formerly used by Thai Mobile through a partnership announced earlier this year with TOT.
Handset availability will be another key factor in determining which operator gets to market first. Nokia already has 850MHz phones that will fit with DTAC's plans. While the US uses both 850MHz and 1.9GHz for 3G, and Australia 850MHz, much of the rest of the world uses the 2.1GHz band.
In any case, while AIS and DTAC jockey for position, the clear loser is True Move, the mobile arm of True Corp. True will have to wait for CAT Telecom to close its own cellular operations with Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia before it can begin 3G operations.
CAT president Phisal Jorpocha-udom said the state enterprise was in talks with Hong Kong's Hutchison, the major shareholder of Hutchison CAT Wireless, about the future of the CDMA service.
Most analysts expect CDMA, which is incompatible with the GSM system used by AIS, DTAC and True Move, to be terminated in Thailand. CAT would then shift its 850MHz frequency to both True Move and Hutch for HSPA service.
True Move chief executive Supachai Chearavanont acknowledged that the company would have to wait for CAT before it could move forward with 3G.
"Unfortunately, we don't have any frequencies to start with like [AIS and DTAC] do," he said with a shrug.
Vocabulary:
Telecommunications Technologies
3G, 3G wireless, third generation wireless - the next level of mobile phone services beyond the current second generation (2G), supports broadband internet, supports greater numbers of voice and data customers especially in urban areas (See Wikipedia on 3G)
broadband - high-speed data transmission used for high-speed Internet access, fast enough to support applications such as streaming video
third-generation mobile broadband services - broadband for 3G
higher-value broadband internet and multimedia applications - things that
upgraded to 3G with no disruption to existing customers - changing to 3G services without causing dificulties to mobile phone users
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) - a collection of mobile telephone protocols with improved performance over many older protocols such as GMS and CDMA, see below (See Wikipedia)
a mobile phone protocol - a standard set of rules for transmitting voice and data between mobile phones over a network
a base station - the radio transmitter and receiver that connects mobile telephones in an area with a company's wireless network, most countries require several hundred base stations to give full coverage for mobile phone customers
upgrade - change to make an improvement or to move to a new version
upgrade 30 base stations to HSPA - change these mobile phone antennas so that they can use the new mobile phone protocol
GMS - the mobile phone standard used in Thailand, the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world, an estimated 82% of the global mobile market uses the standard, used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories (See Wikipedia)
data services - mobile phone services beyond mere talking (internet, radio, TV, etc)
GPRS - data service for GMS (See Wikipedia)
CDMA service - a mobile phone communications protocol widely used in the United States, higher capacity than GSM and better for multimedia (See Wikipedia on Code division multiple access (CDMA))
MMS (multimedia messaging service) - a standard for sending messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text) and not just text (See Wikipedia)
mobile TV - watching TV on your mobile phone
analogue vs. digital - digital means using computers, analogue means no computers
voice traffic - people talking on their mobile phones moving through the network and antennas [Thai: sannya]
legacy - what a person leaves for others after they have left their job (See glossary)
roll out - introduction of a new product or service to the market (making available gradually in more and more places)
a limited rollout - introduce a new product in only certain areas
a handset - the telephone that you hold in your hand
handset limitations - enough handsets are not available
National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) - the first independent state telecommunications regulator in Thailand, regulates all telecommunications services, formulates a master plan, sets criteria and categories of telecommunications services, permits and regulates the use of spectrum for telecommunications services and grants licenses to telecommunications operators (See website and policy)
a concession - a special right or privilege to run a certain kind of business for a certain period of time, usually given by the government (See glossary)
a concession holder - the owner of the concession, the person who owns the privilege of running a special kind of business
a concession partner - another company or organisation tha shares the concession, two partners both receive part of the income that the concession generates
a hurdle - a problem or difficulty that prevents you from achieving a goal (also a sport)
regulatory hurdles - things in government regulations that you are required to do
clear any regulatory hurdles - satisfy the requirements of regulations, do what the government regulations say yoy must do first
submit a formal request to Y - make a request to a government authority Y providing information required by Y which will evaluated by Y before approval
a thunderbolt - the flash of light that comes with lightning (See Wikipedia)
a thunderbolt cast by Y - Y did something sudden, shocking, and electrifying, like a thunderbolt
X is music to the ears of Y - X is very happy to know about Y
appears to X - X seems to be true (but not completely sure)
an advantage - something that puts you in a better position than other people
X holds an advantage over Y - X is in a better position than Y
rivals - competitors, a person or business you are competing with for the same limited resources
appears to hold a slight advantage over its rivals - seems to have a small advantage over competitors
a sea change in Y - a complete change in Y (like the way the weather suddenly changes at sea)
put past differences aside - forget about disagreements in the past (so you can work together on a project now)
grievances - a belief that something that has happened to you was unfair
set aside their grievances - forget about unfair things that happened to you in the past (so you can work together on a project now)
focus on Y - think about, discuss, and deal with one thing (rather than many different things), concentrate on Y
there are no guarantees that Z - Z is not a sure thing
we can't stand still - we must act, we cannot not act
X buoyed by Y - X makes Y feel more cheerful and optimistic
sent a strong signal to the market -
stems from - a problem or condition x comes from or is caused by y (See glossary)
a quirk of fate - something unusual and interesting that happens by chance, by accident
X allocated for Y - X assigned to be used for Y
jockey for position - trying to move into a better position than rivals
a shrug - raising shoulders to show you do not know or care about something
X incompatible with Y - X cannot be used with Y, or X and Y are very different and do not suit or agree with each other
