CAT, TOT merger to be completed by January 7

[webfact]

CAT, TOT merger to be completed by January 7

By THE NATION

 

Buddhipongse Punnakanta

 

The merger of CAT Telecom and TOT will be completed on January 7, 2021, after the Cabinet approved an extension from December 14 specified earlier.

 

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) said on Monday morning that DES minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta had confirned that the merger was underway. The new state enterprise, “NT Telecom”, formed by the merger of CAT Telecom and TOT, will be completed on time.

 

The minister added that he would discuss with the Minister of Finance, TOT's big shareholder, and the State Enterprise Policy Office for nominations to NT's board of directors. This board will be in charge of choosing the chief executive officer, he added.

 

Also, the minister has set three phases of operation after the merger is successful in January. He explained that all business units under NT Telecom would work in unity within the last phase.

 

Buddhipongse revealed that NT Telecom would have assets worth over Bt300 billion in value. The assets mainly include over 25,000 telecommunication towers nationwide, underwater cables, radio frequency, underground conduits with around 4,000 kilometres of total length, fiber optic cables with 4 million core kilometres of length, 13 data centres across the nation, and an international phone system.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30399570

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-12-14

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Another larger State Enterprise monopoly in the making it seems.  This has been in the cards since 2006 after Thaksin was deposed.  Until recently, CAT had a monopoly on international telephony and CDMA mobile telephony. CAT partnered a while ago with TOT to provide the GSM mobile service Thai Mobile. In the end this plan has been on the books since the 2006 junta of General Surayud Chulanont announced plans to merge TOT with rival state telecom enterprise CAT Telecom (formerly the Communications Authority of Thailand).  One big State Enterprise now and more money for the new board of Generals, er Directors.

[MadMac]

This merger discussion is going on for years. Needless to say it wont happen by Jan 7. Or same day in 5 years.

[chilly07]

It's  good that politicians are prevented from benefitting from this due to a ban on ownership of media companies. Or was that  just for opposition candidates pre election?