Thailand. Advanced Info Services Ltd.

The 7-year-maturity loan totalling USD 70 million is aimed at financing Advanced Info Services’ (AIS) further expansion, capacity increase and upgrade of its existing GSM/GPRS mobile telephone network. The Finnish-German mobile telecom equipment manufacturer Nokia Siemens Network is a major supplier for the project. AIS is Thailand’s leading mobile operator having 19.5 million subscribers and a 48% market share. Thailand gives high priority to a well functioning nation-wide telecommunications infrastructure. Due to the topographical difficulties in deploying fixed-line telephony networks countrywide, the roll-out of mobile coverage is the most efficient way to develop the telecom infrastructure in the country.

The main part of the financing is to be used to build 400 new base stations at 300 new sites, throughout Thailand. The general environmental impacts of the base stations are primarily a change in the landscape of the sites, as well as electromagnetic radiation emanating from the base stations and antennas. No masts or antennas are to be situated in environmentally sensitive or protected areas.