Samart mulls entering football rights bidding

Mar 31, 2012 (Bangkok Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The competition for the three-year rights to broadcast Premier League football in Thailand looks set to intensify after Samart Corporation said it may join in the bidding.

GMM Grammy has already announced it wants to enter the competition for the Premier League football broadcasting rights.

TrueVisions, the cable TV arm of True Corporation, is currently the sole Premier League broadcaster in Thailand. It paid US$800 million for the three-year contract expiring in May 2013.

A new round of bidding will take place in the middle of this year.

Suphachai Chearavanont, TrueVisions' chief executive, said his company has outlined two options for the bidding -- a solo bid or a bid in partnership with GMM Grammy.

Samart president Watchai Vilailuck said Samart, through affiliate I-Sport Co, is studying the feasibility of bidding for the Premier League rights possibly in cooperation with Siam Sport Syndicate Plc.

I-Sport, wholly owned by Samart's subsidiary Samart i-Mobile Plc, provides both domestic and international sports information and news.

Mr Watchai said having the football broadcasting rights would strengthen the third-generation (3G) wireless broadband service the company is providing as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

He said Samart, through its subsidiary i-Mobile Plus, will join forces with Malaysian partner Axiata in May to resume its aggressive marketing campaign to provide 3G services as an MVNO.

An MVNO offers services to the market without owning the spectrum rights or any of the basic network infrastructure, instead buying airtime wholesale from established providers.

"We expect to have 40-50% of TOT's 3G network capacity or 3 million numbers to sell services under the new MVNO conditions involving a minimum revenue guarantee," said Mr Watchai.

Samart now has 250,000 3G customers with average revenue per user of 180 baht a month.

"We expect 700,000 3G users by year-end if the state telecom enterprise completes its 3G network expansion by September," said Mr Watchai.

He said MVNO services will be the company's core revenue producer, replacing handset sales.

Samart will expand to Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia next month.

It plans to jump into the mobile phone and telecom markets in Myanmar as well as become involved in air traffic control.

The company is also in talks with the Lao government for the possibility of an air traffic control concession.

___ (c)2012 the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) Visit the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) at www.bangkokpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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