NEW DELHI, India-Total Access Communications (TAC), Thailand’s second-largest mobile operator, has announced an expansion and financial restructuring with the help of its Norwegian partner Telenor, which has pumped US$260 million into the company.
TAC plans to launch a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) service by the end of this year and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) by mid-2001. It will spend 10 billion baht (US$234 million) on network expansion to have 4,000 base stations by 2002. With this investment, TAC aims to provide 600,000 new phone connections. It has around 1.2 million subscribers and a 43-percent market share.
TAC Managing Director Boonchai Bencharongkul stated in Bangkok that new investments valued at 6 billion baht (US$140 million) would be financed by the company’s latest debentures issue. Three billion baht (US$70 million) in debentures were offered to institutional investors on 29 September, while the rest will be offered to the public from 5 October to 11 October. The lots offered to institutional investors were fully subscribed, according to Boonchai. TAC received US$262.5 million from Telenor, which has acquired 70 million of newly issued shares in TAC, taking its equity to 30 percent.
Nokia said 6 October it won a US$50 million contract to upgrade TAC’s GSM 1800 MHz network.
