The company, which is a subsidiary of the provincial telephone operator TT&T, is trialing its services and is scheduled to launch its operations in the second half of this year, according to general manager Suwat Punnachaiya.

TTGN's main rival will be the True Group, which until now has been one of two private international Internet gateway providers in Thailand. True holds a licence under a category for operators that have their own networks. The other private provider is Advanced Data Network Communications, a unit of Shin Corp. It has been less active than True.

Suwat said TTGN would initially provide international Internet gateway services to its sister company TT&T Subscriber Services, a major Internet service provider (ISP) with a large customer base for provincial broadband access under the brand name Maxnet. Later, it will offer services to other ISPs in Thailand and in neighbouring countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Burma.

"Initially, we expect a market share of 20 per cent. We expect major customers to shift to use our services as an alternative and for their peace of mind," Suwat said.

"Thanks to the experience of our parent company, which has been in the ISP business for a long time, we know how to make customers happy."

Suwat said TTGN would focus on service quality and would offer "service level agreements" requiring it to provide rebates to customers when it is unable to deliver services as guaranteed.

"I think the current price of Bt590 a month for speed of 1Mbps [being offered by True] is already low. Our focus will be on quality," he said.

Suwat said TTGN would make its investment in stages, using cash flow it earns from each phase to help finance expansions. In the first phase, it will ask its shareholders to support a capital increase and will also borrow money to finance an initial investment of Bt100 million. Then it will invest more money and expects to spend no less than Bt160 million by the end of this year.

Suwat admitted that TTGN would be disadvantaged by True because the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) recently allowed it to make direct connections with international network providers, bypassing CAT Telecom's network.

"We believe the NTC will be fair and won't discriminate [against us]. We believe this [requirement to use CAT Telecom's network] is going to change soon," he said, adding that TTGN will lower its costs by 36 per cent if the NTC allows it also to bypass CAT Telecom.

Partly because of deregulation initiated by the NTC, there are currently more than 80 ISPs in Thailand. Internet bandwidth consumption here has been doubling every year and currently totals about 18 gigabits per second, Suwat said.

As well as providing an Internet gateway, TTGN plans to enter the international direct dialling (IDD) business. It expects to receive an IDD licence from the NTC either this month or next month, he said.

The IDD market is estimated to be worth about Bt12 billion annually.

Thanks to its huge mobile-phone subscriber base, Advanced Info Service (AIS) is the largest contributor of IDD calls in Thailand, generating 40 per cent of the country's overseas call traffic.

TTGN is aiming for a market share of more than 30 per cent within the next two years. It expects to grow by 30 per cent to 40 per cent per year.

Pichaya Changsorn

The Nation