True hails advent of 5G adoption

True hails advent of 5G adoption

With new tech still years away, success will hinge on licences, bandwidth

Mr Vichaow shows off dancing robots during True's 5G demonstration at Iconsiam.
Mr Vichaow shows off dancing robots during True's 5G demonstration at Iconsiam.

The cost of new licences and the availability of spectrum bandwidth are two critical factors that will help decide the success of 5G wireless broadband adoption in Thailand by 2020.

The telecom regulator is pushing three regulatory conditions to ease operators' financial burden in a bid to attract them to invest in 5G infrastructure.

The three are multi-band auction design, expansion of the terms of licencing payments for previous auctions (especially 900-megahertz licences) and the reserve price for new auctions.

Vichaow Rakphongphairoj, co-group president of True Corp, said True is concerned about 5G adoption because it has still not invested in 5G infrastructure, despite the technology being critical for enabling innovative tech usage, especially the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT).

In terms of spectrum cost, 5G requires at least 100MHz of bandwidth to provide service efficiently.

The big three telecom companies have spent generously to roll out 3G and 4G networks nationwide, so high spectrum costs would create a barrier to 5G adoption, Mr Vichaow said.

"I urge the government and regulator to work to attract private sector investment for 5G infrastructure," he said. The most critical barrier is the remaining licencing payment terms for 900MHz licences from the 2015 auction.

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said the NBTC plans to extend the payment terms until the expiry year of the licences. But first it needs the government's approval.

The NBTC has started evaluating those spectrum ranges that will be auctioned starting next year, including 470MHz, 700MHz, 2600MHz, 1500MHz, 3400-3800MHz and 26-28GHz.

The planned auction of the spectrum ranges will in future be done through what is called a "multi-band auction" concept.

When 5G adoption takes place in the market by 2020, it will create a wave of change to vertical industries and the domestic economy will transform from an industry-driven one to one driven by innovation based on concepts like smart industry, smart cities and smart people.

Mr Takorn said 5G adoption requires direct investment from telecom operators to develop and install the related infrastructure, devices and ecosystem.

"More than 80% of the ecosystem will be driven by the private sector," he said.

In a related matter, True Group started offering demonstrations of 5G technology yesterday featuring 10 categories. True said 5G is a positive step towards digital sustainability.

The demonstrations will continue until Jan 31 at True Branding Shop, located at the newly opened mega-mall Iconsiam on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

Mr Vichaow said TrueMove H was granted special permission from the NBTC for the showcase using the 28GHz spectrum, which is viewed as a stepping stone to further connecting Thais to the digital world.

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