AIS Firm Despite Ultimatum From TOT

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AIS firm despite ultimatum from TOT

By Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

Telecom concession case set to go to court

Advanced Info Service has vowed to fight to the end against TOT demands for huge compensation payments, even though the state agency is pushing the case to the court.

Finance Ministry permanent secretary and TOT chairman Areepong Bhoocha-oom said yesterday that TOT had notified AIS of its demands for damages deriving from concession amendments. TOT is demanding payment of Bt73 billion, plus 7.5 per cent interest per year, by February 15 - or it will take the case to court.

As ever, AIS chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn was adamant that the company would not pay the compensation. "We did nothing wrong," he said, adding that he had not yet received official notification from TOT, the concession owner.

Of the damages, Bt30 billion is related to the telecom excise tax imposed by the government of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2003. The rest derives from the sixth and seventh amendments of the concession to AIS.

While the excise-tax issue is under discussion by an arbitration panel, there is no such panel to address the conflicts between TOT and its concessionaire in connection with the two amendments.

The case relates to a Supreme Court ruling that Thaksin bent laws to benefit his family-owned Shin Corp and its subsidiaries, causing massive damage to the state. The judgement led to the confiscation of his assets.

Wichian said this was a separate issue. The court's decision was on Thaksin, not AIS, which was not the accused party in the asset-seizure case.

Amid criticisms of discriminatory practices, Information and Communications Technology Minister Chuti Krairiksh said the ministry would submit solutions to rectify all concession amendments of all cellular operators, including those of TrueMove and Total Access Communication (DTAC), for the Cabinet's consideration on Tuesday.

Earlier, he appeared to be concerned only about the AIS case and its relation to the Thaksin ruling. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva later instructed him to submit the entire package to Cabinet to neuter accusations of discrimination.

AIS has complained that it was not the only beneficiary of the excise-tax amendment in 2003. Under the amendment, fixed-line and cellular concessionaires pay 2 per cent and 10 per cent respectively of concession fees to the Excise Department before paying the remainder to TOT or CAT. This has affected TOT and CAT, which had previously received the full concession fee.

The tax was effective from January 2003 and was reduced to zero by the Surayud Chulanont government in 2007.

Regarding the sixth concession amendment, on May 15, 2001, TOT reduced AIS's prepaid-service revenue share with TOT from 25 per cent to a flat 20 per cent, starting from June 2001 and applying until the end of the concession period in 2015.

Originally, AIS had to share prepaid revenue with TOT at an incremental rate - 15 per cent from 1991 to 1995, 20 per cent from 1996 to 2000, 25 per cent from 2001 to 2005 and 30 per cent from 2006 to 2015.

Under the seventh concession amendment on September 20, 2002, TOT allowed AIS to roam other networks and deduct the roaming expense from the gross revenue before paying the concession fee to TOT. This was effective from October 1, 2001.

The AIS share price yesterday dipped 0.31 per cent to close at Bt80.25.

-- The Nation 2011-01-29

[Bagwan]

They are demanding 73 billion? Where have i heard that number before?

Isn't it a specious defence that AIS was not Thaksin? Wasn't he an autocrat surrounded by 'yes' men? Wasn't it the case that nothing moved without his say so?

Isn't this going to tee off Singapore? Heated exchanges with Cambodia already, only Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar to go then.

[Buchholz]

They are demanding 73 billion? Where have i heard that number before?

Isn't it a specious defence that AIS was not Thaksin? Wasn't he an autocrat surrounded by 'yes' men? Wasn't it the case that nothing moved without his say so?

'Yes' women, too...

President of AIS from 2001 - 2006 (which covers the period of time mentioned in the OP) Yingluck Shinawatra

Edited January 29, 2011 by Buchholz

[RKASA]

So what about Dtac they had the fees lowered to 18% How much do they owe ToT.?