Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday instructed the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to complete plans for TOT 3G service and for concession conversion within six months. He also advised the ICT Ministry to overhaul the operations of CAT Telecom and TOT, the two state telecom enterprises under the ministry, to improve their performances.
He wants to see the 3G service offered in the country. But TOT has to have a clear vision on how to proceed with 3G if it wants to limit its role to providing the 3G network on a wholesale basis, or providing both the network service and a retail 3G cellular service.
TOT also should wait for the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to finalise the auction rules for the 3G-2.1GHz licences before moving ahead with its plan to roll out a nationwide 3G network, he said.
This is to prevent a possible conflict between the NTC’s auction rules and TOT’s 3G business direction.
TOT already launched its own retail 3G-2.1GHz service on December 3 – but only covering Greater Bangkok – over its old 2G network, which has been upgraded to 3G.
via 3G plan completed in 6 months: PM
