Fixed-line Telephone Business The fixed-line market in Thailand is currently serviced by three companies. TOT, the state–owned enterprise that formerly regulated the provision of fixed-line telephone services, is still the only nationwide provider of local and domestic long-distance fixed-line telephone services in Thailand. Two other operators, True and TT&T Public Company Limited or TT&T are providing fixed-line telephone services under agreements to operate granted by TOT. While the Group’s service coverage concentrates in the BMA, TT&T covers certain provinces of Thailand. At the end of 2013, fixed-line subscribers in Thailand further declined to 6.1 million subscribers (source: NBTC), representing approximately 9 percent of the Thai population. The decline was mainly due to ongoing popularity of wireless and mobile Internet services. True Group was the largest fixed-line operator in the BMA with approximately 1.7 million subscribers, accounting for 28.0 percent of the market. True Group’s fixed-line telephone business has been mostly affected by the continuing migration of traffic to mobile, which is a global trend. In addition, its fixed-line telephone business faces growing competition from VoIP services whose tariffs are lower than those of traditional fixed-line operators. Rising Internet usage and the growing availability of personal computers and smart devices also contributed to the increasing usage of these devices by Thai consumers for making VoIP calls. Business Data Services The business data market in Thailand continues to grow at about 7 percent a year due to the popularity of online data transmission and an increase in Internet users. The competition between the large number of operators and suppliers of alternatives remains high. The major players in the data communications market in Thailand currently include TOT, CAT Telecom, UIH and UCOM, ADC under Intouch (formerly Shin Corporation Group), TT&T and True Group. The Group’s principal competitors are TOT (which has the widest coverage throughout Thailand) and UCOM (which has broader coverage outside of the BMA than True Group). In addition, another market player like Symphony also grew strongly as it targets the very high-end fiber segment. At the end of 2013, True Group was the second largest business data provider with a 24 percent share of the nationwide market value of approximately Baht 18.1 billion. TOT remained the market leader with a 26 percent share and UIH ranked 3rd with a 21 percent share. (Source: True Group’s estimation) Broadband Business The broadband subscriber base in Thailand is relatively small with a household penetration rate of about 22.1 percent of some 22.8 million households (source: broadband subscribers from NBTC and Department of Provincial Administration’s estimation on households), compared to rates in other countries in the region such as Hong Kong (85 percent) and South Korea (39.3 percent) (source: BuddeComm’s estimation). There are several operators in the Thai broadband market, including TOT, CAT Telecom, JAS operating under the “3BB” brand, CS Loxinfo Public Company Limited, ADC, and True Group. True Group has continued to experience solid growth in its broadband subscriber base, expanding to 1.81 million at the end of 2013. The Group is the largest broadband service provider in Thailand based on the number of subscribers, having approximately a 36.8 percent share of Thailand market (Source: True Group’s estimation) as of 2013.
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