New National Telecommunication Company To Be Formed By Thai Government

[Jai Dee]

ICT Minister says National Telecommunication Company will be formed during this govt

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom says the National Telecommunication Company will be established within this government’s administration. He says the company will help stabilize the national economy.

Mr. Sitthichai says he has not been informed about the details concerning the National Telecommunication Company’s role in holding the shares of TOT Public Company Limited and CAT Telecom Public Company Limited. However, Mr. Sitthichai says he sees that Thailand should have at least one telecommunication network because once TOT and CAT Telecom are in the stock market; they may face a trade deficit when the economic situation is at a low level. Therefore, he believes the country needs a state-owned telecommunication company.

Regarding the personal website of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who is asking for support from the people, Mr. Sitthichai says he has no comment. He says if ICT Ministry will oversee the website whether it violates the lese majesty or pornographic regulations. At the same time, he says the security agencies will consider whether the website is aiming to incite the general public.

The ICT Minister says the transfer of Mr. Kraisorn Pornsuthee, the Permanent Secretary for the ICT Ministry, to the Prime Minister’s Office is unrelated to the “neutral gear” issue. Mr. Sitthichai says Mr. Kraisorn has an intention to be transferred. He says the person who will replace him will be a C-10 official who has the most seniority.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 27 March 2007

[Martin]

"...He says the company will help stabilize the national economy. .............. Thailand should have at least one telecommunication network because once TOT and CAT Telecom are in the stock market; they may face a trade deficit when the economic situation is at a low level."

This is a very interesting 'straw in the wind'.

It would appear to show, as did a crucial two sentences in the Prime Minister's speech to the JFCCT, that this new Government has done its macro-economic sums and sees the Mother of all recessions looming.

The above statement and the PM's statement are the financial equivalent of a ship reporting: "We are battening down our hatches".

If they are right (and I, like many, believe that they are) that the last government's promotion of a credit-led boom (on the coat-tails of Greenspan and Bernanke's American one and Gordon Brown's UK one) is going to end in a bust that is so big that recession turns into the Second Great Depression, the Thai people will be well-served by them taking steps like this.

It looks as if they feel that, since in late 2006 there were just so many echos of the conditions of 1928, the sooner we are prepared to try to withstand being hit by the conditions of 1929 the better.

(And isn't it a glorious example of Thai politeness to say "....may face a trade deficit...", and not to say "...may go bankrupt..."!!!)

[Hampstead]

Oh dear

the above poster needs a few zanex to keep living that positive life in thailand

nothing new in this report, just another ruse to take more power and backhanders in a huge industry to spread around the new little greedy masters.

tot by the way has been plagued with debts and is already listed on the set, whereas cat is losing international calls to ais.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Hampstead

[samran]

actually, it is a merger by steath. Dressing it up as 'good for the economy' is a way of fooling the dumb punters who have always opposed a merger.

CAT as an entity, has long lived past its used by date as the 'gate keeper' to the international communications network. It is down there with other pointless state enterprises such as the tank battery making factory (belive it) and the leather tanning state enterprise (believe that one too).

The problem is, the two entities (especially CAT) was always resisted efforts by previous governemnts to merge the two. CAT and their board, have been struggling to justify a reason for existence for the best part of a decade now.

So Martin, there is no 'straw in the wind'. You are reading a little bit too much into the statement.

And Hamstead, think of it this way, with the effective disbandment of CAT, there is at least one less trough for the pigs to get their noses in.

[slimdog]

This was published in the Nation a couple of weeks ago

TOT wants to manage national network

The board of TOT has come up with the idea of taking back the network-management rights of its three major private concessionaires as part of its plan to create a national telecom network.

The board told the state agency's employees yesterday that the idea served its goal of becoming the national network provider, by deploying such networks to offer telecom services for the public benefit and on a non-profit basis.

It was also part of its attempt to convert the existing concession contracts into network-lease contracts for the private concessionaires and solve the access-charge dispute between TOT and CAT Telecom's private cellular concessionaires, board director Vuthiphong Priebjrivat said.

TOT's three major private telecom concessionaires are Advanced Info Service (AIS) - the largest cellular operator - True Corp and TT&T.

Vuthiphong said that after taking back network-management rights, TOT would lease the networks to any interested telecom operators. The existing private concessionaires would pay TOT for network leases at a rate not exceeding their current concession-fee levels. The concession fees would also be cancelled.

He said TOT would soon float the idea to the public before working out more details.

TOT and CAT Telecom granted concessions to private telecom operators on a build-transfer-operate basis, but they have no right to manage their concessionaires' networks. At the end of their concession terms, network ownership will be transferred back to both.

"Telecom networks should be monopolised by the government, while the service providers can still compete freely," Vuthiphong said.

He said TOT would advise CAT to adopt the same strategy but he admitted TOT still needed further study into the details - from the technical to legal aspects - to see if the plan could actually be realised.

CAT owns the concessions of Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move, the second- and third-largest cellular operators, respectively, along with Digital Phone.

TOT would discuss the possibility of realising the plan with the National Tele-communications Commission (NTC), he said. If it can get network-management rights from its major concessionaires, TOT plans to cancel the access charges and to only collect network-leasing fees.

DTAC and True Move have made it clear they want to stop paying the access charge to TOT as the cost of routing their subscribers' calls to different networks through TOT's facilities. Both cellular operators want to pay only the interconnection charge under the NTC regime, which requires all telecom operators to share voice and data revenues between the networks involved in the calls on a bilateral and fair basis. Major telecom operators signed the bilateral interconnection-charge deals last year.

A telecom analyst said a major cellular operator like AIS would be likely to lose its competitive advantage if TOT was able to allow interested firms to lease the AIS network or other networks of existing TOT telecom operators, and offer services in competition with AIS.

One telecom industrialist asked if it was an appropriate idea to have TOT monopolise the telecom networks and whether TOT could work out fair network-leasing fees.

Telecom executives declined to comment on the matter, pending more details from TOT.

source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/option/pri...newsid=30029312

[Mai Krap]

So we can expect slower Interweb speeds more quickly?

How many telecommunications executives does it take to change a light bulb?

I mean reset a server?

Thailand, "The Hub Of All Connections!"

Edited March 27, 2007 by Mai Krap

[Hampstead]

These new masters are learning fast the ways of greasing their palms with gold in the modern day thai economy

the telecommunication industry is among the largest and most profitable in thailand and with the upcoming ipo of dtac should represent a larger source of revenue for these old guys.

everything from new concessions to new network management to new company is just another sales pitch to the public hiding what we already know these new masters want= money and power.

every telecommunication and internet company have been amongst the worst performers on the set in readiness of these new masters looking at new ways in taking their share in an ever expanding profitble industry.

its no different to the last government's ways of sharing the spoils among themselves, the only difference this time is that these new masters have the great sales pitch on 24 hr mode making the public believe whatever they do is for the greater good of thailand and not for themselves.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Hampstead

[raslin]

Wouldn't it be nice if the government of the day recognised that neither TOT nor CAT are not and never have been, by definition, public companies. Their shares are not and never have been available to the public.

"Where ignorance of bliss . . ."