Directors of TOT Plc have agreed to join with China Telecom in building two internet land links to serve as a backup gateway for the country.
One link will run from Nong Khai province to Laos, China and Russia, with a second connecting Thailand with Cambodia and Vietnam.
Shanghai Symphony Telecom, a joint venture of China Telecom and AT&T, will be responsible for creating a gateway connection in Laos, with TOT responsible for the gateway in Nong Khai.
A full business plan is expected to be completed 30 days before TOT signs its contract with China Telecom.
TOT chairman Panthep Chamrasromran said the TOT board last Thursday agreed to move ahead with the project to ease traffic congestion on the main international link run by CAT Telecom, a submarine link connecting Thailand to Malaysia and Singapore.
Mr Panthep said the new gateways would help serve growing internet demand within Asia, particularly in Myanmar, and that companies such as Japanese giant NTT Docomo had expressed interest in partnering on the project.
Once the new gateways are installed, they could be used to route internet traffic northward and balance the load on the CAT submarine gateway.
Meanwhile, the Japanese telecom operator Softbank will serve as a principal technical adviser to TOT under a project to review business strategy and asset management plans for the state enterprise.
Mr Panthep said he and TOT executives will meet with Softbank next Monday to hold talks on the project.
Under the agreement, Softbank will provide technical know-how for TOT's third-generation (3G) wireless broadband business and evaluate the company's assets to establish a framework for new business opportunities.
TOT will also send staff to train with Softbank in Japan.
Mr Panthep said TOT could form a business partnership with Softbank in the future.
TOT currently has more than 100,000 kilometres of fibre-optic line, as well as 13,000 mobile base stations as assets.
Earlier, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Anudith Nakornthap directed TOT to overhaul its 3G business plan and organisational structure.
The ministry wants TOT to focus on its role as a network service provider rather than as an operator to survive in the business.
TOT must devise new business plans and submit them to the State Enterprise Policy Office.
Mr Panthep said TOT will set up three committees, each responsible for forming a subsidiary related to telecom network rental.
The three new units will respectively manage and rent the telecom network and transmission network, and develop applications.
The move is part of TOT's goal to generate new revenue by using its own existing networks and those to be transferred to it by its private concession holders.
After the concessions end, all private concession holders will have to transfer their network assets to their concession owners, either TOT or CAT Telecom, under build-transfer-operate arrangements.
The three new subsidiaries are expected this year. TOT's main concession is the largest cellular operator, Advanced Info Service. That concession ends in late 2015.