Thai True buys CDMA business of Hutchison

BANGKOK, THAILAND: Thailand's True Corporation said on Thursday it was buying the local CDMA mobile phone business of Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd along with related companies.

The purchase will enable True to speed up the rollout of lucrative, long-delayed 3G data services in Thailand, where it is the only integrated telecoms service provider, offering fixed and mobile phone, Internet and cable television services.

True Corp shares initially rose on the news then fell. At 0323 GMT they were down 1.4 per cent at 7.10 baht, having risen as high as 7.30 baht. The main index .SETI was up 0.12 per cent.

True shares have risen more than 40 per cent in the past three months on speculation about the CDMA acquisition.

Its Real Move unit will buy 92.5 per cent of Hutchison Wireless Multimedia Holdings Ltd for 4.35 million baht ($144,300), True said in a statement to the stock exchange.

Real Move and another unit, Real Future, will acquire another three companies related to the CDMA business, including network provider BFKT, for 1 baht each.

Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia Co, a joint venture between Hutchison and state-owned telecoms firm CAT Telecom, operates a CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile network that has a small market share in Thailand.

The service covers 25 central provinces in Thailand over a network leased from BFKT, a subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom.

True said the purchases of the four companies would give it a holding in BFKT's subsidiaries, including Hutchison MultiMedia Services (Thailand) Co Ltd, Hutchison Telecommunications (Thailand) Co Ltd and Hutchison CAT Wireless MultiMedia Co.

After the acquisition, BFKT would continue to lease a network and provide maintenance services to CAT Telecom, which would focus on providing nationwide 3G services on a super high-speed HSPA technology, it said.

Real Move would be a reseller of services and capacity on the network that it would buy from CAT, and planned to migrate CDMA clients to HSPA within two years, the statement said.

Hutchison's CDMA service has less than 2 per cent of the Thai mobile market. The top three operators -- Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication and True Move, part of True Corp -- have a combined share of about 98 per cent.