In one of the strongest messages to Thailand’s government to date, mobile operators and the GSM Association (GSMA) have called for urgent action and a licensing timeline for the introduction of 3G service following a meeting with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Friday. Spokesmen for both AIS and DTAC, the country’s top two mobile operators, both noted that they had been ready for the introduction of 3G for a long time and called on the regulator to provide some certainty.

“I want a committed date,” said Sigve Brekke, CEO, DTAC. “I want the government to say that by this date you get the licence and I hope that date will be before Aug 1st 2008. As soon as we get this date then we can start planning.” 

“If licensing would come, existing operators would roll 3G out in a few months,” added Pratthana Leelapanang, assistant vice president, wireless service marketing, AIS, who said it was only the government that was not ready. “We’re more than ready to invest in 3G. We’ve been aggressively investing in 2G for 10 years but we’ve also been reserving funding for 3G,” he explained.

The two mobile representatives were speaking at a media briefing along with Ricardo Tavares, senior vice president for public policy, GSMA, following a seminar with government and regulatory officials on how best to proceed with 3G licensing.

Tavares was optimistic that commercial 3G services would be rolled out before the end of 2008. “From the seminar, we all understood that there are challenges but there is also a sense of urgency, that you could see,” he said.

JUNE 2008 DEADLINE PROPOSED: The GSMA has proposed a timeline that would see a public consultation period in the first quarter of 2008, followed by the issuing of licences as early as June. If that were to happen, he said the third quarter would see operators rolling out 3G infrastructure and commercial service before the end of the year. 

Tavares made a contrast between Thailand’s performance in the just-concluded SEA Games and its performance in mobile broadband. While it easily topped the medal count at the games, when it comes to 3G it is languishing at the bottom of the table, with only Burma, Laos and Vietnam yet to introduce 3G licences. 

“Mobile broadband will be of great benefit to increase the penetration of PCs and give handsets new services, providing encouragement to Thai content developers. Thailand is going to be starting a little later in the game, but it can still win it,” Tavares claimed. 

Meanwhile, the DTAC CEO also warned the government against being too greedy when it comes to setting licensing fees. He suggested that a “beauty contest” would be the best option and said that no more than three licences (not including the 2.1GHz licence already held by the TOT/CAT joint venture Thai Mobile) should be issued. by Geoff Long 

add to delicious | add to digg | search technorati