Dtac raises stakes in 3G race

A company source said DTAC planned to increase the number of base stations by 1,600, which will be rolled out nationwide.

Earlier DTAC announced it would build 1,200 3G base stations in Bangkok, Chon Buri and Phuket at a cost of about Bt5 billion within three years. That plan has already been blessed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

DTAC will provide the 3G service on its existing 850MHz spectrum.

Its chief executive Tore Johnsen will select one of three suppliers - Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens and Huawei Technologies - to be its 3G network supplier. After the selection, DTAC will ask its state concession owner, CAT Telecom, to seek the NTC's permission to import the equipment for the roll-out of 1,200 base stations.

Last week, Advanced Info Service (AIS) said it would not slow down its pace of developing the 3G service, despite TOT, its state concession owner, refusing to allocate the 5MHz bandwidth of the 1900MHz spectrum to AIS to support its 3G service development.

AIS kicked off the 3G post-paid service on its constrained 900MHz spectrum in Chiang Mai in May.

In the middle of this month, chief marketing officer Sanchai Tiewprasertkul said AIS would increase its nationwide 3G base stations to more than 1,900 from the originally planned 400, at a total cost of Bt6 billion. It will debut the 3G service in Bangkok at the end of the year.

AIS is waiting for the NTC to approve its plan to install 1,500 additional 3G base stations. Its initial plan for 400 stations has already been approved.

True Move plans to build more than 600 3G base stations across the country, using its 800MHz spectrum, at a cost of over Bt1 billion.

All private cellular operators are also waiting for the NTC to award the licences to use the 2.1GHz spectrum to provide the 3G service. The watchdog intends to grant the licences by next year.

Phillip Securities estimates that AIS will post a full-year net profit of Bt19.426 billion, up 19.25 per cent from 2007. Its net profit stood at Bt11.456.32 billion in the first half, up 27.96 per cent year on year, due to strong subscription-base growth from rural demand, benefiting from higher agricultural prices.

Globex Securities estimates that DTAC will post normalised net profit of Bt8.2 billion, up 40 per cent from last year, due to its effective cost control and high data-service revenue.