Norway-based Telenor and Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) are exploring a merger of their telecom units in Thailand, which could result in a new market leader in the country, overtaking current number one AIS, which has around a 44% share of the domestic market.

 

Telenor said, in a statement issued on Friday, that the potential deal would merge the telecom operations of Telenor’s Total Access Communication (Dtac) and CP Group’s True Corporation (True).

 

Dtac is currently valued at around US$3bn, according to Refinity Eikon data, while True has a value of US$4.5bn. If approved by Thai regulators, the merger would give the combined entity a domestic market share of around 52%, according to Mads Rosendal, a credit analyst at Danske Bank.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/true-dtac-in-talks-over-merger-in-thailand/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-11-20

 

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Less competition implies a hike in prices

CP doing what CP does best... control everything.

So CP fixed the food supply chain from A to Z, wholesale to retail and now is reaching out for the next business segment which prints money 24/7 in Thailand. Well, as long as everybody can toggle around on the mobile phone in stores, only disturbed by customers, then all is OK! 

CP Chicken owns just about everything else, so why not? 

I've been a very satisfied DTAC customer for 6-7 years. I wonder if DTAC has seen a business contraction the last 2 years and is projecting a further contraction due to a messed up economy and long trend line before the economy recovers.

 

Also 40 million tourists have disappeared, a population greater than in Canada, Australia or many Euro nations. And there are millions of Thais who barely have enough to eat. So Telenor maybe wants out of a compromised business situation. 

8 hours ago, alyx said:

Less competition implies a hike in prices

normally i tend to favor less regulation … however .. when it comes to a service like mobile phone/data, and the impact it has on so many aspects of life and commerce, i would be a bit more cautious and would want a exhaustive review of the proposed merger and it’s realistic short and long term impacts on consumers.

 

I can’t say if it’s a good thing of bad thing… and i can’t say that mergers, in and of it self, are bad.. only that i think a fair review of its impact on both the competitive landscape and consumer is warranted.

5 hours ago, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

Also 40 million tourists have disappeared, a population greater than in Canada, Australia or many Euro nations. And there are millions of Thais who barely have enough to eat. So Telenor maybe wants out of a compromised business situation. 

40 million tourists does not compare well with the populations you suggest. For example, if it was 52 million tourists each staying 1 week, you'd get an increase in "population" of one million on a constant rollover.

 

Do they spend more on more high margin telecom services than your average Thai? Probably. Very likely that new sims and short duration top up services are more profitable but not in the numbers you suggest.

On 11/20/2021 at 10:40 AM, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

I've been a very satisfied DTAC customer for 6-7 years. I wonder if DTAC has seen a business contraction the last 2 years and is projecting a further contraction due to a messed up economy and long trend line before the economy recovers.

 

Also 40 million tourists have disappeared, a population greater than in Canada, Australia or many Euro nations. And there are millions of Thais who barely have enough to eat. So Telenor maybe wants out of a compromised business situation. 

Meanwhile cp chicken's profits have gone through the roof during the covid debacle.