(The Nation (Thailand) via NewsEdge) Thailand's CAT Telecom seems unprepared to make the launch of its flagship broadband cellular service in 51 provinces next month, according to the executives' report to the board.
A CAT source said the board learned last week of the executives' concern that the relevant systems CAT used with its cdma2000 1-x broadband cellular service might not function well in supporting the CDMA service operation.
Instead of using the systems specifically designed for the cellular service, CAT deployed the systems of its existing international calling service to support the CDMA network, the source said. Among these were the intelligence, billing and fraud-prevention systems.
The state agency has yet to implement customer-relations and inventory-management systems.
'CAT has also yet to develop a service-management system that will alert it when the CDMA network fails. Moreover, it has no platform to enable CDMA users to access basic applications, such as "ËœCalling Melody.' Therefore, after the launch, subscribers can use the CDMA network only for voice service and accessing the Internet,' the executive source said.
CAT plans to start selling its CDMA handsets for the first time next month and has targeted 60,000 users by the end of the year.
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