Chiefs of three mobile operators have collaborated to apply psychological pressure on the government to push ahead with the planned fourth generation (4G) spectrum auction next year.
The three operators — Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move — are scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow under the theme of "Moving Thailand into the 4G era to serve the digital economy".
The move shows that mobile operators definitely need a new chunk of frequency bands to be allocated to run full-commercial 4G wireless broadband services.
For users, more bandwidth for 4G means operators have more capacity in the sky to roll out services, depending on how well operators run their networks and take advantage of the additional bandwidth.
Previously, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) set the auctions for the 1800- and 900-megahertz in August and November.
However, the junta in June ordered the suspension of the planned 4G licence auctions for one year, saying the national telecom regulator needed to amend several impractical sections of the Frequency Allocation Act to ensure transparency before the auctions take place.
Sigve Brekke, interim chief executive of DTAC, recently said Thailand urgently needed a 4G auction to uplift the telecommunication infrastructure in order to meet growing consumption of mobile data.
He said Thailand's mobile industry was in a "precarious data traffic congestion situation" as operators were unable to satisfy exploding demand for mobile data.
Thais consume an average of 400 megabytes of data per month, compared with less than 200 in most European countries. Moreover, Thailand has almost 40 million smartphones, of which 26% are 4G-enabled. Video streaming accounts for up to 40% of DTAC data usage.
"These figures show that Thai consumers are eager to adopt new trends and technology," he said.
"If 4G auctions do not take place by 2015, the overall industry will be hit hard," Mr Brekke said, adding that this will force operators to impose limits on the amount of data consumers can use, meaning customers would be inevitably forced to pay additional charges.
AIS chief executive Somchai Lertsuthivong said in a recent interview that his company would have the least amount of bandwidth in 2015 after its 2G concession under the agreement with TOT Plc expires. AIS provides 2G services on the 17.5 MHz bandwidth on the 900-MHz spectrum.
Third-ranked True Move is seen to have an advantage over its larger rivals as it launched 3G services nationwide with planned nationwide 4G network expansion. Suphachai Chearavanont, True's corporation president and chief executive, said his company expected the number of 4G-enabled smartphones to exceed 7 million in 2015, up from 1 million this year.
In September True signed a strategic partnership agreement with China Mobile International, raising capital of 65 billion baht, a move expected to help True steal a march in the local 4G market next year.