Mobile LTE, a consortium of ICT and oil trading companies, says it is ready to increase its capital by 20 times to finance the development of a fourth-generation (4G) mobile network on TOT Plc's spectrum.
"Raising capital from 100 million baht to 2 billion baht will begin immediately after TOT selects our company [Mobile LTE] as a strategic partner to develop and provide 4G commercial service on the state telecom enterprise's 2100-megahertz spectrum," said Siripong Oontornpan, chief executive of Advanced Information Technology (AIT), a SET-listed firm that owns 20% of Mobile LTE.
TOT has shortlisted three private telecoms companies as prospective partners to help it provide 4G services and turn around its ailing fortunes. They are mobile leader Advanced Info Service (AIS), Loxley Plc and Mobile LTE.
TOT expects to settle its joint venture plans with private operators by April, said a TOT source, adding that having private partners would speed up the development of TOT as it seeks to become a telecom network service provider.
Mobile LTE proposed to rent out the existing unused 15 MHz of bandwidth on the 2100-MHz spectrum to provide 4G mobile broadband service under a network rental agreement.
The company committed to TOT it would have at least 10 million subscribers under its five-year partnership contract, generating 2.5 billion baht in revenue a year for the state enterprise.
TOT has 5,200 3G base stations on the 2100-MHz spectrum.
Mr Siripong also denied a rumour that Mobile LTE is a nominee of AIS. Mobile LTE director Yanyong Akrajindanon once served as an executive at the country's largest mobile company.
AIT is a key local dealer for Cisco Systems, a global maker of IT networking equipment.
AIT expects revenue to grow by 10% to 6.8 billion baht this year. Up to 90% of last year's revenue came from IT bidding projects of state enterprises. TOT and CAT Telecom alone contributed an average 3 billion baht in revenue to AIT.
Djitt Laowattana, a TOT board director, said TOT was on the verge of selecting a global financial adviser to help it evaluate potential partnerships and the proposals submitted by the three candidates.
The financial adviser will also evaluate all existing assets of TOT in order to calculate the state enterprise's asset values, paving the way for future partnerships with private telecom companies, he said.