Finance Ministry tells TOT it will have to find alternative soruces of ...

Home ? business ? Finance Ministry tells TOT it will have to find alternative soruces of revenue

Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation November 21, 2011 4:07 am

The ministry, which owns 100 per cent of both TOT and CAT Telecom, also approved TOT's payment of a dividend worth Bt3.986 billion to the ministrywithin November 15.

The Frequency Allocation Law obliges TOT and CAT to transfer all concession revenue to the National Broadcasting and Telecommu-nications Commission (NBTC) within three years of the law's taking effect. The NBTC will pass concession revenue to the state coffers.

The Finance Ministry believes that without new revenue sources, TOT risks huge losses in 2014, |when it has to start transfer-|ring concession revenues to the NBTC.

TOT's total revenue last year was Bt73.035 billion, generating net profit of Bt7.742 billion, up 17.3 per cent on year. The state agency's concession revenue - its main source revenue - amounts to about Bt20 billion per year. One of its main concession holders is Advanced Info Service.

TOT pins its hopes on its existing 3G-2.1GHz wireless broadband service as a new revenue stream. However, the flooding has delayed the rollout of its nationwide 3G network in some areas, prompting it to re-evaluate its plan to fully launch the service in 18 provinces this month.

TOT has already launched the service in some areas of the 18 provinces. It allows a certain number of customers to roam for the |3G service on Advanced Info Service's network when travelling outside its 3G network coverage.

In the 18 provinces, TOT has reportedly finished installing only 944 3G base stations out of a planned 3,500 by this month, and a projected total of 4,772 base stations nationwide by May. TOT is aiming for 1.2 million users of the new 3G network this year and 7 million by 2015.

TOT also has a plan to spend Bt13 billion on the rollout of a "next-generation network" to provide broadband multimedia services, which it positions as its new revenue stream.

Meanwhile, CAT is pinning its hopes on its business of wholesaling 3G-850 MHz bandwidth capacity. It has wholesaled bandwidth to Real Move, which is a True Corp subsidiary, but CAT has been forced to delay the official launch |of its 3G retail service to next |month from this month, due to the flooding.

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Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Finance-Ministry-tells-TOT-it-will-have-to-find-al-30170277.html

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