Good News ! It looks like Thailand is now well set to have its 3G network working for 2015, when the AEC free trade zone will kick in. Thailand’s 3G magnificent soap opera is still rolling, for the entire benefit of some big fat cats you will never know.Who cares for transparency anyway ? With 3G granted to state monopoly, private companies will now have to approach TOT and CAT if they want to take part in this new, lucrative market, without clear and transparent rules.
TOT Plc may have to postpone its planned auction for its nationwide third-generation 3G wireless broadband expansion in the wake of allegations by some bidders of unfair treatment and poor transparency.
One possible explanation of 3G fiasco may be that Private operators in Thailand currently operate second-generation mobile-phone services under concessions granted by either TOT or CAT Telecom, which require revenue sharing of around 20%-30% with the state companies. With the new 3G concessions, the share would drop to a mere 5%
Chuti Krairiksh, the Information and Communications Technology minister, admitted he could not guarantee that the auction for the project worth almost 20 billion baht could take place on Friday as scheduled.
Ericsson of Sweden and ZTE Corporation of China last week accused the state telecom enterprise of being non-transparent, after TOT announced that the two contenders had been tentatively ruled out after preliminary screening.
