However, an official from the state agency said TOT might have to extend its break-even period beyond the original time frame of five years because of competition from True Corp in the same airport area.

TOT's senior executive vice president, Ongarj Pukittayakamee, said yesterday that TOT had already switched on its services in some areas of the airport and had signed up some customers, including Airports of Thailand (AOT), Thai Airways International and 30 of the 80 airlines expected to use the airport.

TOT won a 10-year deal from AOT in November to be the main provider of state-of-the-art telecommunications systems and voice and data services at the airport, including fixed-line systems and Web-based and overseas call services, as well as data services such as broadband Internet connections and video conferencing. All systems are based on Internet protocol technology.

TOT spent Bt1.5 billion on the project and has 20,000 phone numbers available.

True also won a deal to provide telecom services at the new airport, but has focused on data services.

In a separate matter, TOT will present guidelines for merging with CAT Telecom Plc to its board for approval next week.

Acting president Chamras Tantreesukhon said the merger plan had many options, including seting up a holding company to oversee both state agencies or a direct merger.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation