AIS abandons plan to rent TrueMove’s 2G network

Thailand’s AIS and TrueMove have abandoned plans to enter a mobile network rental agreement after being unable to accept mutually agreed upon terms.

AIS no longer intends to rent TrueMove’s 900-MHz network to allow it to continue serving its 900-MHz 2G customers in the wake of the expiration of its 900-MHz license, telecoms regulator NBTC’s secretary-general told.

The two operators had been negotiating a network rental agreement since mid-April, concentrating on network roaming on the 900-MHz spectrum and customer migration between AIS’s and TrueMove’s networks.

The government had been encouraging AIS to rent True Move’s existing network to allow it to retain some of its existing 2G customers in order to end a dispute over an extension of AIS’s use of its 900-MHz network.

AIS is reportedly also facing government pressure to hand over 8 million 2G customers to TrueMove to free up the 900-MHz spectrum due to be re-auctioned on May 27.

But AIS intends to participate in the auction, and may therefore be able to secure the spectrum needed to ensure service continuity.