Sarun Phaloprakarn, Head Of Business Relations Department of Advanced Info Services Plc. (AIS), and an executive of Advanced Wireless Networks Co., Ltd (AWN), the company receiving allocation of the 700 MHz spectrum for a total of 17,154 million baht, represented the company in making the second tranche of payment for the 700 MHz waveband of 1,835,478,000.00 baht (one billion, eight hundred and thirty-five million, four hundred and seventy-eight thousand baht only) including Value Added Tax. The payment was accepted by Mr.Trairat Viriyasirikul, Deputy Secretary-General and Acting Secretary-General of the Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), which will be forwarded to the national treasury for future national development.
Sarun commented, “AIS was the first provider to announce a roll-out of 5G services, a few days after we received the licence in February 2020. AIS has the most spectra in hand covering all the high, middle and low wavebands, and every use case. AIS 5G now has 90% coverage nationwide and 100% in Bangkok and the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), delivering maximum benefit to the Thai nation. In particular, AIS now holds 30MHz of the 700 MHz band, which it will use to expand 5G services in remote areas to reach its full efficiency. It is also installing the largest number of network towers. As a result, the Thai public has access to 5G technology, which meets their data requirements in the current conditions of learning and working from home.
“In the big picture of spectrum management, we will continue to innovate our network with the latest cutting-edge tech such as mmWave, which offers a scorching 4 Gbps of bandwidth, and the world-first 5G CA. Voice over 5G New Radio (VoNR) provides exceptional voice call quality on a 5G SA network for the first time in Thailand. Other user experiences are enhanced, whether coverage, speed, IoT Device connectivity or low latency, to maintain excellent service levels.”
Sarun concluded, “We are also readying another 30,000-35,000 million baht of budgets for new upgrades of network service quality to underwrite better opportunities and growth for users. We are also looking at the national level and the country’s requirements for resilient digital infrastructure, which gives every sector a competitive edge and selling point to attract investors. This has been AIS’ consistent mission as the industry’s leader.”
Source: AIS