True Corp, owner of Thailand’s third-largest mobile firm TrueMove, has pushed forward with plans to launch 3G with an aim of giving itself a major edge over larger rivals which are still waiting on 3G spectrum. According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, True Corp has set an investment budget of THB13 billion (US$428.3 million) for 2011, with a “large chunk” reserved for its mobile arm’s acquisition of Hutchison’s Thai assets and a deal with state-owned CAT Telecom to resell 3G services. The firm expects to spend around THB8 billion to THB9 billion on TrueMove, and a further THB3 billion and THB1 billion to its Internet broadband and pay TV businesses, respectively.

True Corp announced at the beginning of the year that it was acquiring Hutchison’s Thai assets in a THB4.35 million deal. This deal saw it inherit around 800,000 subscribers and additional CDMA frequencies capable of transforming TrueMove into a nationwide 3G operator. It also inked a deal with CAT that will allow its Real Move unit to resell 3G mobile services on CAT’s network. TrueMove plans to spend THB5 billion this year to expand the 1,200 base stations of its existing 2G services while around THB3 billion to THB4 billion will be spent to upgrade equipment at CAT’s base stations to convert CAT’s CDMA network to HSPA. The operator’s 3G services are expected to be marketed under a new brand, ‘TrueMove H.’ Meanwhile, Thai regulators noted recently that the country’s long-delayed 3G spectrum auctions for private operators could happen before year-end.