As part of the plan the mobile-phone market leader awarded contracts worth between Bt1.5 billion and Bt1.6 billion to five network suppliers - Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, NEC, Nokia and Siemens - in January and similar deals worth Bt5 billion to the same suppliers yesterday.

Chief technology officer Vikrom Sriprataks said the new network would be up and running in June or July.

He said the rest of the budget would be spent by the end of June. AIS will then have an additional 1,444 base stations, compared with its existing 10,400.

"Our network will also be able to cater to the surging call traffic," Vikrom said.

Under the deals, Ericsson is responsible for expanding AIS's network in the Bangkok metropolitan area, while Huawei is focusing on northern and southern Thailand, along with the far upper and lower portions of the central region.

NEC is working on AIS's expansion in central and northern Thailand, Nokia in the central, northern and southern regions and Siemens in the Northeast, Eastern Seaboard and western portions.

Vikrom said AIS had set aside an additional Bt8 billion for network expansion in the second half of the year. If AIS is granted its cellular broadband third-generation (3G) licence from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) this year, the company will allocate Bt5 billion of that for its 3G network roll-out.

The NTC has not yet awarded a 3G licence to any cellular operator.

AIS has more than 16.5 million subscribers.

Recently, its rival, Total Access Communication (DTAC), announced it would spend Bt12 billion this year on its own countrywide network roll-out, in order to catch up with AIS, especially in the rural areas. DTAC currently has nearly 9 million subscribers.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation