Despite losing out in Thailand's recent 4G auctions, Telenor has no plans of exiting the Thai market, according to the company's CEO Sigve Brekke.
In an interview with the Bangkok Post, Brekke said Telenor's Thai unit Dtac remains the company's most lucrative subsidiary. Dtac contributed 14.4% of Telenor Group's total revenue in Q315.
Underlying Telenor's commitment to Thailand, Brekke said the company plans to invest 20 billion baht ($551.8 million) in network expansion this year.
Dtac was outbid in its efforts to secure an LTE license during last year's 1800-MHz and 900-MHz auctions, which both saw unexpectedly intense competition and sky high final bids.
But Brekke has insisted that Dtac has enough spectrum to serve its expansion and customer needs for the next two to five years, while acknowledging that the company will need to acquire more spectrum after 2020 to meet surging data traffic demands.
He urged the government to auction spectrum in the 700-MHz, 850-MHz, 1800-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2600-MHz bands to help the industry accommodate these demands.
Brekke meanwhile expressed confidence that Dtac would be able to win back its rights to the 1800-MHz spectrum currently used by the company under a license due to expire in 2018.
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CORRECTION [14:28 HKT]: Updated to correct previous version which incorrectly named AIS as a Telenor subsidiary in the second and fourth paragraphs. Telecomasia.net welcomes all corrections and clarifications.