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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kech who wrote (32177)	2/9/2003 9:13:56 PM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197208

re: Thai cdma ========= CDMA service under political cloud EMC - Close 10-Feb-2003 The Communication Authority of Thailand's (CAT) provincial CDMA network expansion project continues to be the subject of industry speculation and rumour. Designed to complement the Bangkok-based facilities of Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia, which is poised to begin commercial operation of its new "Hutch" CDMA 2000 1X service late March 2003, the project is now more than a year behind schedule as a result of political interference and delays. Shortly after assuming office, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the founder of GSM market leader Advanced Info Service (AIS), called for a review of the project on the grounds that CDMA was an obsolete technology unworthy of state investment. In a subsequent move, the government also rejected the outcome of an initial closed-door tender by a Hutchison subsidiary to develop the project on a BLT basis. The latest impediment to project development arose in January 2003, when Information and Communications Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee appeared ready to throw out the results of CAT's second round of bidding (). Noting that the THB 32 billion figure tendered by the winning consortium of Nortel Networks and Ucom Group was better than twice the original cost estimates (), the minister asked that the project be put on hold pending a formal review of its commercial viability. With CAT officials complaining of politically motivated delays and asserting their intention to move forward with the project, Surapong later softened his stance and affirmed his intention to let the project proceed. Hutchison CAT Wireless sources note, however, that the minister's untimely criticism of the network expansion project has already undermined public confidence in the future of its CDMA service. e-searchwireless.com