Following the record amalgamation of telecom companies dtac and True in March 2023, True Corporation has made it a strategic priority to offer undisputed connectivity and digital services to its 51.4 million customers (as of Q3 2023).
True Blog sat with Navneet Nayan, Head of Tech Strategy & Architecture at True Corporation, to understand how the network strategy delivers a superior customer experience and energy efficiency within the combined networks of dtac and True.
Better Together: The Best of True and dtac
The switch to a “single-grid” network is the post-merger integration initiative that combines network and infrastructure from dtac and True to deliver the best customer experience. Through this consolidation and modernization initiative, customers will experience wider and deeper coverage and faster speeds. Today, 4G coverage is already at 99% of population coverage and 5G is over 90%, with a target of 97% by 2025.
“True Corporation’s single grid consolidates and modernizes our network while leveraging a broader spectrum portfolio sitting on a denser footprint. Ultimately, it’s about building a high-performance network which is modernized, more efficient and greener,” said Nayan.
To create the single-grid blueprint, deep analytics data, physical attributes of the tower infrastructure and the towers’ equipment were carefully evaluated. Towers that best support the customer experience were identified, as were those that can be phased out. This will result in up to 30% reducing signal interference, while increasing coverage.
“The first few hundred sites have already been consolidated and we’re seeing promising results in those regions from the customer experience point of view,” Mr. Nayan revealed. “By choosing the best towers and consolidating our equipment on those towers, we can deliver more cell sites and better connectivity.”
Another benefit of the single-grid network is broader spectrum portfolio and pooling. dtac customers can now access True’s high speed 5G on 2600 MHz; and True customers can access the 700 MHz frequency band. All customers therefore experienced significant uplifts in their mobile experiences.
“With every single dtac and True subscribers already gaining optimal benefits from better quality since the merger, we are confident on delivering further improvements along the way through spectrum refarming, spectrum pooling and carrier aggregation,” said Mr. Nayan.
High-Performance Networks for a Sustainable Tomorrow
The consolidated tower footprint, modernized radio equipment and multi-band antennas will also lead to a more energy efficient infrastructure. This is critical to achieve True Corporation’s environmental goals of carbon neutrality in its own operations (known as scope 1 and 2) by 2030.
“In addition to single grid, True Corp has deployed artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions at scale to drastically reduce energy consumption on its networks. On a combined level, we estimate around 15-20% energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction over the next two years” said Mr. Nayan.
The more effective towers and consolidated equipment will yield operational cost savings on lease, energy, operations and maintenance. At the same time, a denser grid with more active infrastructure and a highly utilized spectrum portfolio around the country will also support capital expenses efficiencies.
Leveraging Unique Strengths
While being attractive from a customer experience and synergy standpoint, realizing the single-grid network is a challenging task. Nayan explained that from his experience, network consolidation typically involves solving a mix of challenges related to investment prioritization, supply chain, logistics and customer experience optimization. Thus, teamwork is crucial to make sure that all the puzzle pieces fit together at the very right time.
To this end, True has leveraged the global expertise of Telenor Group, which operates in Asia and the Nordics, and original equipment manufacturer partners to carry out the consolidation exercise. In addition, the expertise from CP Group, particularly on-the-ground insights into distribution and logistics, has supported a timely execution. (Telenor and CP Group are both major shareholders of True Corporation.)
“This merger is an opportunity to learn from the best of both True and dtac while retaining assets which are fit for growth. The strengths of the companies will create a telecom-tech leader with a future-ready organization and a high-performance network that is substantially greener,” Nayan reflected.
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