Thailand's AIS has revealed plans to soft-launch 3G services next Tuesday, through subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN).
The operator has set a target of having around 8 million 3G subscribers by end-2013, Bangkok Postreported.
AIS has previously indicated that it aims to achieve 50% population coverage in the first half, 80% coverage by the end of the year, and 97% coverage within three years.
The network will use the 15MHz of 2.1-GHz spectrum AIS acquired during last year's auction, and the operator plans to eventually augment this with 900-MHz and any LTE spectrum it can acquire.
AIS has allocated around 63 billion baht ($2.1 billion) towards the rollout of its 3G network between 2013 and 2015.
The operator is rushing to roll out 3G to mitigate the head-start rival TrueMove has had in rolling out its own 3G network on existing 850-MHz spectrum.
AIS has vowed to pull out all the stops to preserve its leading position in the data services segment by market share.