True Move to unveil iPhone 3G on January 16

The company said preregistration for Thailand's first official iPhone 3G is now available at www.truemove.com or www.weloveshopping.com. Only customers who preregister can collect their iPhone 3G at the launch event  in Siam Paragon's Royal Paragon Hall on January 16-18.

Even though True Move has yet to acquire a 3G spectrum, 3G phone subscribers can use the devices to connect wirelessly to the Internet via its network, as well as use it with its existing conventional 1,800-megahertz cellular network.

True Move has already rolled out 30 3G base stations, in Siam Square, on Silom and Sathorn roads and at Suvarnabhumi Airport, using the network of Chinese telecom-equipment vendors Huawei Technologies and ZTE. But it is still waiting for Total Access Communication (DTAC) to transfer 5MHz bandwidth on its 800MHz spectrum to it, so that it can offer 3G service.

The iPhone 3G supports the 3G spectrum on three bands (850MHz, 1,900MHz and 2.1 gigahertz), the 2G spectrum on four bands (850MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz and 1,900MHz) and wireless Internet service.

Subscribers to the iPhone 3G must remain with the True Move network for 24 months. There are four packages available; for example, the iPhone 3G with 8 gigabytes of memory capacity costs an initial payment of Bt6,999, followed by a monthly fee of Bt1,199.

True Move was in talks with Apple for more than three months to become the authorised cellular service provider for the iPhone 3G. An agreement was signed last month.True Move CEO Supachai Chearavanont said the iPhone 3G would enable True Move to expand its share of the coveted high-end segment.

The launch is a clear indication of its commitment to roll out 3G service in Thailand.

CAT Telecom, which owns the concessions of True Move and DTAC, has not yet allowed either cellular operator to launch a commercial 3G service using the 800MHz spectrum, but rather only a test launch.

A commercial launch is pending an opinion by the Council of State on how the public-private joint-venture committees overseeing their concessions should develop a contract to cover the 3G service.

Both DTAC and True Move plans to launch a 3G service using the 800MHz spectrum bands.

In June, CAT and DTAC jointly adjusted the entire 800MHz spectrum to allocate the 5MHz bandwidth to True Move. CAT owns the 800MHz spectrum, which is being used by DTAC and Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia.