Sepo pushes for telecom network sharing

The State Enterprise Policy Office is advocating network sharing for mobile and fixed-line broadband service in a bid to create a joint network partnership between five state-owned enterprises.

They are TOT, CAT Telecom, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA).

Sepo director-general Supa Piyajitti said network sharing could reduce the cost of introducing mobile broadband. Everyone would receive equal treatment, paying the same rate for access.

She expects the plan to materialise early next year but said some mobile operators had already tried to woo the three electricity agencies on their own, because they wanted to reduce costs and use the saving for investment in mobile broadband, or the third generation (3G) of mobile phones.

"We now have so many 'highways', but they're not fully used, resulting in a waste of resources," Supa said, referring to operators creating their own networks.

Investment in network sharing could be implemented without having to wait for the results of the 3G-licence auction, since it involves the country's telecom infrastructure, she said.

The new network could be considered a necessary state monopoly, because some activities may infringe upon the rights of the people, such as running telephone lines across private property, she said. TOT would not need to spend much on the network if other state enterprises agreed to participate.

Network coverage would be wider than any single network available now and could penetrate into every corner of the Kingdom, she said.

Telecom network sharing abroad has been aimed at reducing operating costs, resulting in lower rates for customers.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij also wants network sharing to be a part of telecom development, Supa added.

Meanwhile, CAT Telecom this week signed a memorandum of understanding with the PEA for a plan to set up a multimedia-content and fibre-optic-based broadband-Internet joint venture with a private content provider.

The PEA can use its vast 1,800-kilometre-long, nationwide electricity and fibre-optic network, which covers 500,000 square kilometres and connects to 15 million households, to provide the service.

PEA governor Adisorn Kiatchokewiwat said CAT and the PEA would each have a 25-per-cent stake and look for a private content partner to hold the rest.

However, the PEA will not contribute money, but rather only its network.

The PEA is licensed by the National Telecommunications Commission to lease its network for service provision.

CAT chief executive Jirayuth Rungsrithong said his company would act quickly to form the JV. A partnership with the PEA would enable the state telecom agency to link directly to people's homes to provide multimedia content and broadband service.

He said CAT had targeted 3 million households within the PEA network for its customers.

The agency must promptly explore opportunities for new revenue sources before the private concessions soon end. Private concessions are now the main revenue source for state telecom agencies.