Telecom Infrastructure

Introduction

The global capacity of telecommunications in the major cities of Thailand is efficient, with world wide access for voice, fax and data with international direct dialing.  Cellular phones are extremely common and can often serve as the only means of communication within the more remote rural areas.

Since the economic crisis, the demand for telecommunication services have dropped significantly. These services include land line telephones, cellular phones, radio communications, paging and VSAT services. As a result of of this decline, major telecommunication investment projects have been put off until the market improves. These investments included the expansion of six million land lines and investment in cellular phones which with radio frequencies ranging from 1500 and 1900 megahertz.  Two projects that have not been affected however include the installation of rural public long distance telephone line and the installation of submarine fiber optic cable.²

Telephone Stats  back to top  

Source:  STAT-USA®/Internet™  

Telecom Per 1,000  back to top  

Source:  Country Commercial Guide Thailand, Fiscal Year 1999,  Prepared by The Embassy of the U.S.A., Bangkok, Thailand

Satellites  back to top  

Thailand is a member of the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium. In order to provide convenient radio services, Thailand maintains two ground stations connected to satellites over the Pacific and Indian oceans. The first national satellite, known as THAICOM, was launched into orbit on December 17, 1992. The second satellite, THAICOM 2 was launched on October 8, 1994 and the third, THAICOM 3, on April 16, 1997.⁵

Major Telecom Players   back to top  

Source:  STAT-USA®/Internet™  

Private Telephone Services   back to top  

Thailand has traditionally operated its telecommunications network through two state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) responsible for national communications and the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) responsible for international communications and the postal services.⁷

This monopoly however, will soon be forced to share its market with other companies as the country begins to deregulate the national telecommunications industry.  In preparation for the entry of new companies, TOT has entered into a joint venture with Samart Corporation, a Thai distributor of telecommunications equipment, which will start marketing connections for the TOT early next year.⁸ The TOT permitted Samart to market phone numbers nationwide, but initially the company intends to only concentrate on the Bangkok market.   "Greater Bangkok is still a high-potential market for the fixed-line business and we hope the demand will come back after the economic recovery."  Samart has an extensive distribution channel in the capital, which will ease its entry into the market on the TOT's behalf. The two parties have not yet determined the logistics of their financial arrangement and how they will share the revenue.  The TOT's current telephone line capacity is 7.68 million numbers: 4.423 million in Greater Bangkok and 3.257 million in the provinces. The Samart-TOT deal will be exclusive initially, though the state agency might name other marketing partners in the near future.

In Bangkok, the TOT operates 1.823 million lines and the rest are operated by TelecomAsia under a concession from the TOT. However, the TOT lines are not fully subscribed. In Bangkok, only 1.439 million lines have been sold and in the provinces only 1.437 million. Therefore the TOT still has about 400,000 unused lines in Greater Bangkok, and about 300,000 unused lines in the provinces.  Of TA's 2.6 million lines, 1.535 million have been sold.⁹  The other large telephone operator within the industry is the Thai Telephone and Telecommunication Company, which has 1.5 million lines and 1.18 million of them have been sold.¹⁰

With nearly 2.2 million unused lines nationwide, it was inevitable that competition for new customers would be intense, said a TOT executive.  Especially because many do not see a lot of growth potential for the fixed-line market in Bangkok, which hinders on the possibility of a newcomer from entering the market.  The main target customers in the next year would be corporate users looking to expand communications.¹¹

Some of TOT's competitive service include a low-cost, long distance call service called the Y-Tel 1234, which will be supported by its Internet-based network, which it leases from Hatari, an agent of Cisco Systems. This new service will charge almost 80% less than the current average long distance rates, which now cost between 3 and 18 Baht per minute. The new rates will range between 0.50 Baht and 8 Baht per minute, depending on the distance and the length of the call.   For more information about TOT's  Internet-based network, please go to the Internet Diffusion page.

The TOT will also lease a fiber-optic link from Malaysia-based Time Telekom. ¹²

Kogod School of Business           American University        Other Country Reports

Sources:

¹   Thailand Board of Investment, http://www.boi.go.th/english/business/g31.html

2   Country Commercial Guide Thailand, Fiscal Year 1999,  Prepared by The Embassy of the U.S.A., Bangkok, Thailand

³   "Market for Telecommunications Services," 02/29/2000, STAT-USA®/Internet™  

⁴  "Market for Telecommunications Services," 02/29/2000, STAT-USA®/Internet™  

⁵   "Winstar to Offer Fast Data Communication," The Nation, The Nation Publishing Group, 11/2/2000

⁶    Mongkol Jullayothin, "Samart ready to help TOT," The Bangkok Post, December 7, 2000, http://www.bangkokpost.com/today/071200_Business08.html

⁷    Ibid

⁸  Ibid

⁹  Ibid