May 26, 2017 –
TOT and dtac plan to launch the country’s first wireless broadband 4G
LTE-TDD service in a drive to
improve Thailand’s digital infrastructure. TOT officially selected dtac
as its preferred counterpart to operate 2300 MHz spectrum on Wednesday.
dtac believes that final agreements
would be completed within Q4 2017, benefiting the country, state enterprise and consumers.
Mr. Montchai Noosong, president at TOT
Public Company Limited said TOT's Board of Directors chose dtac
TriNet--the subsidiary of dtac--as its preferred counterpart, because of
dtac TriNet's proposal to install and invest approximately 20,000
telecom towers and an annual fixed payment of 4.51
billion baht for 60% of its total network capacity. TOT will rent
equipment from dtac TriNet.
“We
would like to thank the government through the Ministry for Digital
Economy and Society for this achievement, which will create value for
Thailand through a wide and smooth 4G network and resource
utilization. Importantly, this development comes at a critical juncture
in supporting the government’s Thailand 4.0 policy, generating economic
growth through private sector investment with further positive effects
of employability and increased population
coverage,” said Mr.Montchai.
He
added this collaboration between TOT and dtac will bring enormous
benefit to the country and strengthen sustainable growth for both
parties. Wireless broadband on 2300 MHz will expand opportunities
for all Thais to have better access to internet and meet massively
growing demand of data consumption from public and private sectors as
well as Thai citizens. The increased bandwidth supports up to 300 Mbps
data transmission, which TOT plans to leverage in
remote areas under the government’s policy.
4G
LTE-TDD 2300 MHz networks will maximize the use of frequency resources
with the advantage of Time Division Duplex (TDD) technology.
Technically, TDD uses a single frequency band to transmit
and receive data, allowing more optimized utilization of the spectrum
depending on data consumption. According to GSMA Intelligence study:
deployment of LTE- TDD networks among operators globally are increasing
significantly with a projection of TDD share
of global LTE connections at 22% by 2020.
Mr Lars Norling, chief executive officer, Total Access Communication PLC or dtac,
said: “This major collaboration with TOT to operate the widest
bandwidth of 60 MHz in 2300 MHz spectrum will improve our customers'
experience through greater speeds and even smoother services. The
liberalization of unused spectrum is a major development in
Thailand’s telecoms infrastructure and in line with the country’s
strategic plan for digital infrastructure development to benefit all
Thai people. The infrastructure will catalyze the use of digital
technology, generating new economic value to bolster the
country’s fundamental economy and increase its competitiveness in line
with global standards.”
TOT and dtac now enter into contracting process which is expected to conclude within Q4 this year.
