AIS to use global 3G standard
Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) will use the 2000-MHz spectrum band to provide third-generation (3G) broadband cellular service, in line with the global standard.
President Yingluck Shinawatra said that despite the technical possibility of using other spectrum bands for 3G, including AIS’s existing 900-MHz frequency, the company had decided to adopt the international standard. “This is to ensure that our 3G service will have a large number of compatible handsets to support it,” Yingluck said here this week while attending the 3GSM World Congress 2006 – a major mobile communications conference and exhibition. The event ends today. At the fair, Nokia announced new frequency variants for its Flexi 3G base stations – 2100MHz, 1700MHz, 1800MHz and 1700/2100MHz – to be available in the second half of the year. In next year’s first half, more frequencies will be added, including 850MHz, 900MHz and 1900MHz. Yingluck hopes that the national telecom regulator will make 3G licences available this year. The new technology enables wireless data transmission at faster speeds than the currently predominant 2G network. Earlier, AIS had hoped to have its 3G licence as early as the middle of this year. AIS executive vice president for operations Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS could roll out its 3G network to cover Bangkok within six months and upcountry within three to five years. He said the cost of the network rollout would be close to that of the 2G network build-up of US$70 (Bt2,800) per subscriber. “The network suppliers also want to bring down the cost, in order to encourage telecom operators to invest in 3G networks,” he added. Wichian said AIS was also interested in adopting High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, a technology that provides enhanced capacities and speeds over 3G networks. Global network and handset suppliers estimate 600,000 handsets with 3G capacity will be sold in Thailand in the first half of the year. Usanee Mongkolporn The Nation
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