No plan to allocate 1900MHz spectrum: TOT

Advanced Info Service (AIS) recently said it had asked its concession owner to allocate the 5MHz bandwidth of the 2.1GHz band in the 1900MHz spectrum so it could develop its 3G service. AIS cited constraints on its 900MHz spectrum.

However, Tiravuti said yesterday that TOT had not seen such a request.

AIS kicked off its 3G service in Chiang Mai in May, using 900MHz, and has yet to expand the coverage due to the spectrum constraint. However, it plans to roll out the 3G network in many provinces.

Meanwhile, TOT's board yesterday appointed president Varut Suvakorn to be 3G project manager to work in coordination with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, the National Economic and Social Development Board, and the Finance Ministry.

The Cabinet has already given the nod to TOT to spend Bt29 billion on building up the 3G network nationwide from 2009 to 2011, for leasing to private telecom operators. The project targets breaking even within seven years.

In the first phase, TOT will upgrade 500 existing base stations of its joint-venture cellular network provider ACT Mobile in Bangkok and major provinces to 3G technology in order to enable a launch early next year.

In the second phase, TOT will install 5,220 new 3G base stations across the country. TOT targets at least 4 million 3G subscribers on the network within five years of the service launch.

The whole network will use the 2.1GHz spectrum.

The NTC is expected to consider today the TOT's request for the transfer of CAT Telecom's partial ownership of the 1900MHz spectrum in relation to Thai Mobile, as part of TOT's move to be the sole spectrum owner. Transfer of the spectrum from CAT to TOT requires NTC approval.