CAT Telecom Plc is in talks with two major mobile-phone distributors, IEC Plc and Samart i-Mobile Plc, to be the main distribution channel in 51 provinces for its handsets using a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1-x cellular system.

The state agency is also in talks with Bangkok Bank Plc for joint development of applications for the CDMA service.

CAT plans to start selling its CDMA handsets for the first time next month and has targeted 60,000 users by the end of the year.

The handsets will cost between Bt2,000 and Bt3,000.

Subscribers must pay a monthly fee of Bt299, and the air-time rate is Bt2 for the first minute and 25 satang for each additional minute if calling within the network.

In calling to a different network, they must pay Bt4 for the first minute and 25 satang for each additional minute.

China's telecom equipment supplier, Huawei Technologies, has finished rolling out 800 CDMA base stations in 51 provinces for CAT, and the remaining 800 are expected to be finished next January.

The state agency started testing the service in May.

In November, CAT will launch a prepaid service to allow customers to download content on a high-speed basis across the Kingdom via roaming with a similar CDMA network in 25 provinces owned by BFKT, a wholly owned firm of Hong Kong's telecom giant, Hutchison Telecom.

Hutchison-CAT, a joint venture between CAT and Hutchison Telecom, has leased the network to provide the CDMA cellular service in the 25 provinces.

Currently, its staff can roam the voice service of the Hutchison-CAT network.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation