Thai state-owned operator TOT has held an informal meeting with Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication (DTAC), True Corp, Mobile LTE and Tantawan Telecommunication to inform them on its plan to seek a partner for the launch of its 2.3GHz wireless broadband service, The Nation reports. TOT plans to announce the term of reference for the bidding in early February and is expected to select its business partner by mid-2017. The partnership would run services on 60MHz of the spectrum. TOT targets revenues of THB 3.9 billion per year from the 2.3GHz business.
TOT says that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has permitted the state agency to hold the 60MHz bandwidth until 2025. TOT has been awaiting approval from the NBTC’s telecom committee on its revised business plan to offer 4G services using this spectrum.
TOT plans to adopt a business model similar to that of the True-CAT Telecom partnership to offer its 850 MHz wireless broadband service. TOT seeks bids from all operators who do not currently have a licence. If a bidder without a licence becomes a TOT partner, this operator can apply to the NBTC for a licence to run a telecom business, TOT added.
Under TOT's draft terms of reference, telecom operators are invited to propose investments that would enable the 2.3GHz network to cover 80 percent of population in 3 to 5 years. The bid winner will also have to lease 60 percent of capacity from the network. TOT will use the remaining capacity to provide its own mobile service and allocate spare capacity to MVNOs.
