Thai operators AIS and Dtac have entered a long-term partnership to share telecom towers to enable each company to rapidly expand their wireless broadband coverage.
AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network and Dtac subsidiary Dtac TriNet have agreed to share 2,000 towers, with each providing 1,000, the Nation reported.
Both subsidiaries operate on the 2.1-GHz network and focus on providing wireless broadband services.
Dtac and AIS have already commenced sharing telecom towers and aim to be sharing all 2,000 by the end of the year. Most of the towers are located in provincial areas.
Under the collaboration, the operators will also jointly work to roll out new towers instead of duplicating the effort.
Both partners have denied that the arrangement has the potential to stem competition. But AIS senior vice president for operations Weerawat Kiattipongthaworn acknowledged that if both AIS and Dtac obtain a 4G license, the tower sharing deal could help them roll out 4G services faster.
Weerawat also indicated that AIS is in talks with True Corp over a similar tower sharing arrangement.
The agreement is in line with efforts by regulator NBTC to promote telecom infrastructure sharing in the nation.