Thailand based True Corporation announces their investment in fiber to the home networks in Thailand. True has allotted a budget of 740 million US dollars to build and or expand fiber to the home networks nationwide.
True Corporation Public Company Limited (TRUE) is a communication conglomerate in Thailand that controls country’s largest cable TV provider TrueVisions, its largest ISP True Internet and one of Thailand’s largest mobile operators, True Move. Established in 1990 as TelecomAsia, True Corporation had a strategic partnership with US based Verizon. TelecomAsia set up a mobile phone subsidiary with Orange SA. In order to converge all its existing telecommunications related business into a single brand, the company renamed itself True Corporation in 2004 and streamlined its operations with subsidiaries AsiaInfonet (renamed True Internet) and Orange (renamed True Move in 2006) amongst others. True operates fixed-line, wireless, Cable TV, IPTV and Broadband services amongst others.
True had taken aggressive steps to deploy fiber optic cables in Thailand and has aggressively pushed itself as an Internet service provider, a broadband and ADSL network. True has more than 1 million subscribers and is Thailand’s largest ISP. True took a higher stake in UBC, Thailand’s largest cable television provider in 2005 and renamed the network UBC-True, which was further renamed TrueVisions and TrueVisions. Today, True Corporation Public Company Limited, has pushed communication businesses into one brand, “True”, promoting the companies in the form of True Convergence. True is also available in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia.
True realizes that the legacy copper wires through which the telecom service providers deliver communication services in Thailand is not enough to meet the high band width applications and services demanded by its subscribers. Broadband services such as online gaming, HDTV and interactive applications are getting popularity in the country. Optical fiber cables shall be laid by replacing existing legacy cables in brownfield. In greenfield buildings, optical fiber cables can be directly installed from the beginning.
True and AIS are conducting fixed broadband infrastructure upgrade by replacing copper cables with the fiber optic cables to enhance subscriber experience. True intends to spend around 373 million US dollars to upgrade its network in the capital, where it can get a quicker return of its investment. True will spend the remaining 373 million US dollars in other provinces, where it would have potential customers. True estimates that the Thailand telecom market is nearing towards a saturation. Currently the fixed broadband market is worth around 1.5 to 1.8 billion US dollars.
Major fixedline broadband service providers such asTrue Corporation, Triple T Broadband and TOT Plc are upgrading connectivity speeds and making major changes to their broadband offerings in order to remain in business. True leads in the fixed broadband market, especially in Bangkok, with 2.2 million subscribers out of a total 5.4 million fixed broadband users last year. The number of broadband user households in Thailand is expected to reach 6 million this year.
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