TOT Plc and CAT Telecom have joined forces to strengthen their third-generation network capacities in anticipation of intense competition in the 3G cellular market this year.
The two state telecom enterprises signed a network roaming agreement yesterday to share 400,000 of their 3G mobile numbers each for both voice and data services, with an interconnection charge of 50 satang a minute.
TOT launched its 3G commercial wireless broadband service nationwide yesterday.
Yongyuth Wattanasin, TOT's chief executive, acknowledged it faces an uphill task to compete with private cellular operators - Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication and True Move - in the 3G market using the international standard 2.1-gigahertz frequency.
The three major operators have vowed to launch 3G and 4G services in April.
"I cannot give a sales target for our 3G services in the first year of operations," said Mr Yongyuth.
TOT has 300,000 3G subscribers through its five mobile virtual network operators, which resell the state's 3G service on TOT's behalf.
CAT's 3G service under My brand has some 10,000 3G base stations nationwide.
Mr Yongyuth said TOT signed two network roaming agreements for 3G mobile services with AIS and Samart Corporation. Under the pact with AIS, the country's largest mobile operator committed to share 1 million numbers with TOT using an interconnection rate of 50 satang a minute.