True Corporation will beef up its fourth-generation (4G) service with a three-year investment of 57 billion baht, tapping financial support from strategic partner China Mobile.
Up to 36 billion baht will be spent this year on building what True envisions as a cost-effective, high-performance 900-megahertz network, said Suphachai Chearavanont, president and chief executive of True Corporation.
True, through 4G arm True Move H Universal Communication, yesterday signed a deal for letters of credit of 73 billion baht with six banks: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Thai), Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krungthai Bank and Kiatnakin Bank.
Half of the loan will be provided by ICBC (Thai).
The loan proceeds will be used for three bank-guaranteed payments for the 900MHz spectrum licence True won in December. The first payment is scheduled for next week.
True plans to spend 36 billion baht this year on rolling out 16,000 4G base stations on the nationwide 900MHz network in May, with the number rising to 20,000 by year-end.
"Our 4G network will cover 97% of the population this year, up from the current 80%," Mr Suphachai said.
True aims to have a 33% market share in revenue terms by 2018, up from 21% now.
Operating profit is expected to improve to 40% by 2018, compared with 30% now.
With True in possession of the largest amount of spectrum bandwidth, Mr Suphachai predicted outstanding growth going forward. He pointed to the financial backing of six financial institutions as a show of trust in the company.
True has 55MHz of bandwidth on various frequencies. Mr Suphachai highlighted the company's "concrete plans" for providing 2G and 4G services on the 1800MHz spectrum.
The company's 2100MHz spectrum will serve both 3G and 4G services, while the 900MHz network will accommodate 2G, 3G and 4G.
True also provides 3G service on the 850MHz spectrum under a partnership agreement with concession owner CAT Telecom.
Mr Suphachai aims to maintain mobile revenue growth of 17% this year amid weak economic conditions. The company posted 17.3% revenue growth in 2015.
True Corporation reported a net profit of 4.4 billion baht in 2015, compared with 1.3 billion in 2014. Consolidated service revenue was 74.8 billion baht last year, up 10.8% from 2014.