Network provider forges ahead with ‘Fight for Thailand’s Recovery’
Thailand’s biggest mobile-phone network provider, AIS, has launched the country’s first 5G Fixed Wireless Access service.
The launch follows AIS’s recent commitment to invest between Bt35 billion and Bt45 billion this year to build a 5G-based telecommunications infrastructure to cover all 77 provinces. The massive 5G push is part of the company’s drive to “fight for Thailand’s recovery and create sustainable growth.”
The new technology – 5G Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA) – involves a wireless internet signal broadcast directly to a receiver. The receiver immediately passes the signal on to an indoor network without wiring. The system can be installed quickly and can bring high-speed internet access to areas that are not suitable for signal wiring.
It is the first commercial 5G Fixed Wireless Access service in Thailand designed with the business sector as a primary target. It will be capable of enhancing flexibility in sending and receiving corporate data on a wireless network with the advanced features of 5G, in order to support multiple usage. The performance will outstrip existing 4G technology, making it particularly suitable for business networking.
The 5G FWA will also be an extension of AIS 5G’s Network Slicing Innovation. This enables the multiplexing of virtualized and independent logical networks on the same physical network infrastructure. Each network “slice” is an isolated end-to-end network tailored to fulfil diverse requirements requested by particular applications. This will allow the design of a network for each layer, giving it the characteristics of each kind of industry and each area, covering the entire business requirements of each client organization. Connection quality and speed will be assured.
AIS’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Yongsit Rojsrikul, said that the 5G Fixed Wireless Access service would be a new solution to enhance the efficiency of the internet and meet the needs of business organizations.
In the future, FWA will replace some old-style internet connections. It will also allow many network service providers around the world to use 5G to provide fixed wireless services to meet the needs of business networks.
The higher speed of 5G will increase the efficiency of business uses, and AIS’s innovative network slicing technology will effectively guarantee the quality of the signals to each connected business, he said.
Yongsit listed four major advantages that businesses would find in using 5G Fixed Wireless Access
- Higher Speed Internet: 5G FWA will exceed the efficiency of Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) by reaching higher speeds than 4G and supporting high bandwidth applications.
- Better Latency: 5G technology has a lower latency rate than 4G, shortening the time it takes for data to go from the source to the destination.
- Fast to set up: AIS 5G FWA equipment can be installed easily and quickly and is able to send and receive messages to and from the 5G base station immediately, without the need to run cables. Installation costs are thus reduced.
- 5G FWA is easy to relocate: This equipment is ready for use anywhere that has a 5G signal. It therefore meets the needs of organizations that want to use the internet off-site. The equipment can be carried easily and installed in no more than 10 minutes for immediate use.
Yongsit said AIS was committed to introducing 5G technology to help Thailand’s economic recovery. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic had left many business organizations with a need to adjust to a new strategic plan to be able to move forward again.
As Thailand’s first 5G service provider, AIS has expanded its service and its coverage of all 77 provinces is ready for use. This includes coverage of all of the industrial estates in the Eastern Economic Corridor.
“AIS is continuously developing network innovations for corporate customers in response to the problems I have mentioned,” he said.
AIS’s 5G Fixed Wireless Access service consists of a 5G FWA broadband service, corporate internet services, and multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), a data-forwarding technology that increases the speed and controls the flow of network traffic.
The 5G FWA broadband service is an internet service connecting 5G devices among the equipment in a customer’s premises to AIS’s 5G network. The broadband service equipment is easy to install and move, and maintenance is provided in case of interference.
The 5G FWA corporate internet service involves connecting a customer’s 5G devices to the AIS 5G network, providing guaranteed bandwidth and signals quality, with separation for corporate customers. It also offers the highest data security with 24-hour after-sales services provided by skilled technicians. Installation is quick and low-cost, with no need to pull wires.
The MPLS service uses 5G FWA to serve as a multiprotocol label switching technology, creating a virtual private network with easy installation and simple relocation in the case of network allocations for organizations. The MPLS service enables the sending of data with high security and is backed by 24-hour service by a team of skillful technicians.
As well, AIS is offering a range of other services that will ultimately enhance the use of 5G FWA.
First is a 5G FWA service for software-defined networking in a wide-area network (SD-WAN). This simplifies the management and operation of a wide-area network by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism, and AIS has made it an automatic network allocation feature. Utilizing a 5G connection, network coordination will thus be smoother, to suit organizations with many branches.
Second is a 5G FWA WiFi Service. This helps an organization’s WiFi system allocation with comprehensive supervision from a user-authentication system linked to log collection, following the provisions of the Cybersecurity Act. It is also covered by 24-hour after-sales service.
For more details, businesses can visit https://business.ais.co.th/5g/, or contact either the AIS Corporate Call Center at 1149, or the corporate-customer care team.
