Chai state-owned enterprise CAT Telecom has signaled its intention to
expand into Laos ahead of the setting up of the Asean Economic Community in
2015.
The Thai telco yesterday teamed
up with Laos’ state-owned ETL to host a seminar titled ETL-CAT Network Showcase
2012 in Vientiane, giving a strong indication of its interest in the Lao
market.
CAT announced earlier this year
that it wanted to purchase a share in ETL as part of attempts to expand within
Asean. The regional grouping is aiming to establish a single market and
production base. CAT also wants to expand into Myanmar after learning of the
huge business potential in the neighbouring nation.
The Lao government planned to
sell 30 percent of its shares in ETL to the public last year but postponed the
decision due to internal and external stock market conditions. It is still
unclear when ETL will issue the IPO enabling local and foreign investors to subscribe.
CAT said it would invest 20
million baht to expand its fibre-optic link between Nakhon Phanom province in
Thailand and Khammuan province in Laos, and from Kanchanaburi province to Dawei
in Myanmar.
At the seminar, CAT
representatives presented the latest IT and telecoms technology used on the
Thai network, which they want to transfer to potential Lao business partners.
They said improved IT and telecoms infrastructure would boost the growth of
business operations in Laos.
Banking and the management of
businesses would become much easier if IT and telecoms infrastructure is
modernised, CAT staff said. They pointed out that managers could do their work
while on the move thanks to improved IT and telecoms services.
“You no longer have to wait for a
long time at a bank to check the balance on your account. Now you can use your
mobile phone to check it,” one of the Thai lecturers said.
Lao ministry and telecom
officials attended the seminar. They not only learned about Cloud Solution
Deployment and ETL’s Data Centre, but also saw a demonstration of video
conferencing using modern IT and telecom equipment.
In March, CAT joined forces with
Lao Telecom to host a similar seminar and agreed to provide more service
options to customers by opening an international leased line by Multi-Protocol
Label Switching (MPLS) via Lao Telecom and the CAT network.
The network connects along common
borders between countries, and provides services that link business
headquarters with their branches as well as overseas partners via the Multi-Protocol
Label Switching. This system was created to respond to the increasing demand
for international communication.
Competition in the telecom sector
in Laos is growing now that all four telecom operators offer a number of
service options. The four operators are Lao Telecom, ETL, Unitel and Beeline.
Source: Vientiane Times
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