NEW DELHI, India-The Thai government has approved the start of a new 1900 MHz mobile-phone system.
Three state agencies-the Telephone Organization of Thailand, the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) and the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand-will establish a joint-venture firm, with initial registered capital of 1.2 billion baht (US$30 million), and spend 4.2 billion baht (US$106 million) on the new service. The project is scheduled to begin in 13 months, with greater Bangkok as the first service area. The network will be expanded to the provinces within three years.
In addition, CAT would spend 1.2 billion baht to expand the existing CDMA service, which has around 50,000 subscribers at present. The expansion would increase the service areas beyond greater Bangkok to 24 provinces.
The new investments are aimed at enhancing the share value of government agencies when they are privatized later this year.
