Thai state-owned operator National Telecom (NT) gained approval from its board to invest THB800 million (£17.7 million) to build its network to tap into spectrum in the 26GHz band, to provide FWA services and connect enterprises to private 5G networks.
Bangkok Post reported the operator is expecting the project to be completed by March 2024. This is a first phase of a THB6.7 billion budget the Thai government approved for NT’s business development utilising mmWave spectrum, the company licensed spectrum in the 26GHz band for the next 14 years.
The majority of the budget, around THB5 billion, will be used for network development and the rest for operational costs. NT management will apparently begin drafting terms for purchase of equipment for the network next month, and finish early next year. The first phase of this expansion will be online to provide service by March next year.
NT is an entity formed by the merger of TOT and CAT Telecom. A part of NT’s 26GHz licence came from TOT which won 200MHz in the bandwidth in 2020 before the merger in 2021.