CAT Telecom plans to tap into the leased 3G mobile backhaul market in a bid to create a new revenue stream before its concession income vanishes.
Somphol: More networks expected
The state telecom enterprise is investing US$10 million to join the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG), an international submarine cable network project, with the aim of becoming a total solution service provider.
CAT has five submarine cable lines including one in the Gulf of Thailand that services PTT Plc.
The APG project is scheduled to begin operations by 2014, with a length of 8,000 kilometres connecting countries in Asia-Pacific.
Somphol Chanprasert, CAT's senior executive vice-president, said it is looking to jump into the mobile backhaul market to lease fibre-optic transmissions, submarine cables, and microwave and base-station towers to both 3G and 4G mobile operators. "We prepared a clear business plan and projection for the service before submitting it to the board for approval," he said, adding one of CAT's strengths is a nationwide network, particularly in fibre-optic infrastructure.
Mr Somphol said CAT has 1,100 CDMA cellular base stations and is awaiting more networks to be transferred from its concessionaires. The enterprise also provides wireless broadband service under My brand on the 850 megahertz frequency.
It also has 3G service on the high-speed packet access network under a partnership deal with True Corporation.
CAT expects 61.27 billion baht in revenue this year, with 7.56 billion coming from data communication business, or 15%. But without concession revenue, data communications would account for half of total revenues.