By True Internet Gateway
True Internet Gateway Co., Ltd. has become the sole Thai gateway provider able to offer the security of both terrestrial and submarine connectivity to Thailand after being the first private operator to be granted a license for submarine cable landing rights by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on November 12. The license will furthermore allow TIG to establish interconnections with Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia and become the leading gateway to these nations.
Previously only state-owned enterprises had landing rights in Thailand. As an alternative, the new license will allow TIG to access submarine bandwidth capacity from a wide range of providers directly. This will result in greater bandwidth being available at more competitive prices to the benefit of enterprise users, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and consumers alike.
Connectivity with Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar will be ensured through the establishment of eight Points of Interconnection (POIs). This will allow TIG to provide international data services to these countries while also creating the potential to market content services.
“Bandwidth demand in Thailand is expected to grow rapidly from 70.1 Gbps in 2009 to some 580 Gbps in 2014 driven by increasing consumer demand for mobile data services and Internet usage,†said Dr Anotai Rattanakul, General Manger of True Internet Gateway Co., Ltd. “TIG will now be able to provide considerable extra bandwidth at little additional cost. In addition to benefiting home and enterprise users this will also act as a vital backbone to support the high growth in bandwidth consumption that the advent of new technologies such as 3G and WiMAX will bring.â€
The gateway service provider industry experienced accelerated growth in 2009 which will continue into 2010. This has resulted in TIG’s rapid expansion and it has developed into a valuable new income stream for True Corporation Plc. By utilizing the submarine cable landing rights and increasing available bandwidth at minimal additional cost, revenue growth will be driven further, offsetting ongoing declines in bandwidth prices.
