AIS, a telecom operator in Thailand, has selected NEC and Cisco for 3G backhaul. Earlier, it selected Nokia Siemens for 3G network.
Earlier, the telecom operator, which has over 37 million mobile subscribers and a market share of close to 54 percent in Thailand, raised its three-year investment budget by 40 percent to 70 billion baht ($2.35 billion) to speed up 3G network deployment.
NEC Thailand integrated Cisco’s Aggregation Service Router Series ASR 9000 (for aggregation), ASR 903 (for TDM aggregation), ASR901 (access) Cisco Prime infrastructure for network management and Internet Protocol (IP) for Radio Access Network (RAN) for mobile backhaul services.
AIS recently acquired the 3G network license to address demand for mobile broadband and Smartphone data services.
Wichian Mektrakarn, CEO of AIS, said: “AIS speeds up the development of 3G network on the 2.1GHz frequency at soonest, leading to the delivery of quality service and enhanced capacity in all aspects for Thai people.”
AIS is targeting to achieve telecom service revenue growth of 6-8 percent in 2013 after rising 11 percent in 2012. AIS, 21 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications, posted net profit of 8.5 billion baht ($284 million) for October-December 2012, up 131 percent from a year earlier when it booked 3.2 billion baht in expenses for network impairment.
“NEC Thailand, as a ‘Gold Certified Partner’ of Cisco, has provided cell-side backhaul services and better enabled AIS to support data-intensive services required by customers and businesses,” said Hiroshi Sato, president of NEC Thailand.
For Cisco, the project from AIS is important.
“This project with AIS project is another example of our relationship with NEC Thailand, which is based on a common commitment to enhance the mobile experience of our customers,” said Tatchapol Poshyanonda, MD of Cisco in Thailand and Indochina.