Peeling back the curtain on NT’s great migration

The state agency moved subscribers to the 700MHz network, but is still scrambling for new revenue streams

- KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

National Telecom (NT) has migrated most of its 2 million subscribers on the 2100-megahertz, 2300MHz and 850MHz spectrum bands to its 700 MHz band, following the expiry of its ability to use the three bands on Aug 4.

NT president Col Sanpachai Huvanandana described the customer migration as “smooth”.

The state agency operated on the three bands with private telecom operators under partnership deals.

WHAT IS NT’S 700MHZ NETWORK CAPACITY?

NT began service on its 700MHz network last year after it clinched a spectrum licence for the band in an auction in 2020.

Col Sanpachai said the 700MHz network has the capacity to serve more than 4 million subscribers nationwide.

However, NT is targeting select groups of customers, instead of fiercely competing with major players to woo customers.

ARE ALL OF NT’S USERS NOW ON THE 700MHZ BAND?

He said earlier there were more than 1,000 subscribers who used fixed mobile broadband service on the 2300MHz and 2100MHz spectrums. This group roams using NT’s partner telecom networks.

Col Sanpachai said if NT has to migrate this group to the 700MHz band, it will have to change the related equipment for them so they can access its 700MHz service. This process is technically complicated and will increase NT’s costs, he said.

In addition, previously there were more than 1,000 SIM cards using its 850MHz band to operate machine-to-machine systems such as ATM kiosks. The state agency already migrated them from the 850MHz network to its partners’ networks to prevent service disruption.