True Corporation is expanding its international internet footprint to Myanmar to serve rising online data use and the influx of foreign investors there.
Supoj Mahapan, the general manager for international services, said True is spending 20 million baht to build international internet gateway (IIG) infrastructure in Myanmar.
It also recently entered into a bilateral mobile roaming agreement with Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications.
A report by the research firm TeleGeography said total bandwidth use in Indochina surged from 30 Gbps in 2007 to 450 Gbps in 2011, fuelled by the growing use of fixed-line and wireless broadband internet.
The Myanmar government plans to increase the country's adoption of fixed-line and mobile internet from 3% of the population to 50% by 2015.
True is the first Thai telecom firm to enter Myanmar, said Mr Supoj.
He said the emerging market needs greater internet bandwidth to prepare for hosting the upcoming SEA Games and for the arrival of the Asean single market.
Mr Supoj said Thailand could be the "internet gateway" for Indochina thanks to its geographical position connecting Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
An industry source who asked not to be named said the high cost of interconnection charges (ICs) charged by CAT Telecom is impeding industry growth.
True has called for the state telecom enterprise to let private operators invest in their own submarine cable system.
Through its True Internet Gateway arm, Tru has obtained a type 2 licence to provide a connection service between IIGs and domestic internet gateways using a submarine cable network and leased circuits from abroad.
But all outgoing traffic must be routed through CAT's international gateway, which is where ICs would have bearing.
The source urged the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to set a median IC price and treat all parties fairly.
