True Vows To Continue Partnership With CAT

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TELECOMS

True vows to continue partnership with CAT

Usanee Mongkolporn,

Attabhum Ongkulna

The Nation

Supachai

CEO unfazed by ministry's investigation of firms' 3G deals

BANGKOK: -- True Group says it will continue to invest in its third-generation cellular network in partnership with CAT Telecom, unfazed by the findings of an Information and Communication Technology Ministry committee on irregularities in the partnership deals.

The company feels that it is a victim of politics.

True chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont said it welcomed the examination and criticism of the deals.

"However, we feel that we're a victim of political scrutiny, which is understandable as it's the democratic way of checks and balances between the two political poles," he added.

He affirmed that True Group would not revise its plan to spend Bt40 billion this year on expansion of the 3G-HSPA (high-speed packet access) network under the arrangements with state agency CAT.

He said True would stand firm about the propriety of its business operation and in respect of the legality and benefit that would accrue to CAT and the Thai people in offering the 3G service.

Currently True's subsidiary Real Move, which provides the 3G service under the CAT-True deals, has about a million subscribers. It targets 4 million users this year.

True's share price closed at Bt3.60 yesterday, down 1.10 per cent.

ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap said he would announce tomorrow to which state agencies he would forward the committee's conclusion to be further investigated and what CAT should do to remedy the situation.

The ministry is expected to send the conclusion to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and will ask the CAT board to investigate the case in line with the committee's conclusions.

Anudith denied that the committee's conclusions were politically motivated. Yesterday, Settapong Malisuwan, commissioner of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said the watchdog had set up a subcommittee to probe whether the CAT-True 3G deals breached the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law. The subcommittee will convene soon.

The ICT Ministry's committee announced the conclusions of its probe on Monday, saying there were five irregularities in the way the deals were made. CAT and True Group signed the deals in January last year to collaborate in providing 3G service. The arrangement attracted scrutiny by many state agencies over legality.

Former ICT minister Chuti Krairiksh of the Democrat Party questioned whether the ICT committee's conclusion was meant to take revenge for Shin Corp, which was founded by the Shinawatra family.

During his tenure, Chuti pushed hard for the state telecom agencies to claim damages from the Shin flagships, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Thaicom, over amendments made to their concession obligations that allegedly benefited the private companies at the expense of the state agencies. Chuti's move followed a verdict by the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders to confiscate the assets of former prime minister Thaksin, citing abuse of the power of his office to benefit the Shin empire. Anudith yesterday said he would proceed with the AIS case but it had yet to be sent to him.

A state-private committee founded under the 1992 Public-Private Joint Venture Act has forwarded its conclusion to the ministry that AIS must resume paying TOT a share of its revenue prepaid call service according to the original rate, instead of the present lower rate. The ministry has to consider the case and send it to the Cabinet for approval.

AIS was originally obliged to share prepaid-call revenue with TOT on an incremental basis but in 2001, TOT amended the rate to a flat 20 per cent per month throughout the remaining term of AIS's concession, which will end in 2015.

One apparent irregularity reported by the ICT probe committee is alleged political interference by the previous government to have CAT buy the cellular network in 25 provinces from Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecom at a price not exceeding Bt4 billion, though the Cabinet of the day had approved a budget of Bt7.5 billion.

As a result, CAT failed to conclude the network acquisition with Hutchison, paving the way for True to acquire the network and develop the 3G service with CAT.

Chuti questioned why the ICT probe committee did not mention that the lower price was in line with the advice of the Finance Ministry that the appropriate figure was Bt3.7 billion.

Chuti said he had proceeded with the case transparently.

-- The Nation 2012-03-28

[RedNIvar]

There is not truth in TRUE. Had been burnt so many times by them that is no longer funny. This is one company that I would like to stay far far away from.

[BrianCR]

There is not truth in TRUE. Had been burnt so many times by them that is no longer funny. This is one company that I would like to stay far far away from.

I couldn't agree more except to add that when it was trading as Orange it (if possible) was even worse as, after 6pm it was almost impossible to receive or make telephone calls because they had more subscribers than their system could cope with. After complaining their call centre offered to reduce my monthly post paid bill from 1,400 baht per month to an amazing 1,260 baht per month. I asked how this would help me make and receive calls and was informed that it was not a problem as they were refurbishing their system - great! I added, so when could i use my phone? Within the next TWO YEARS was the reply. Needless to say I opted for a 100% discount per month! True should change its name to False as that sums up the worth of its services

[sparebox2]

There is not truth in TRUE. Had been burnt so many times by them that is no longer funny. This is one company that I would like to stay far far away from.

I couldn't agree more except to add that when it was trading as Orange it (if possible) was even worse as, after 6pm it was almost impossible to receive or make telephone calls because they had more subscribers than their system could cope with. After complaining their call centre offered to reduce my monthly post paid bill from 1,400 baht per month to an amazing 1,260 baht per month. I asked how this would help me make and receive calls and was informed that it was not a problem as they were refurbishing their system - great! I added, so when could i use my phone? Within the next TWO YEARS was the reply. Needless to say I opted for a 100% discount per month! True should change its name to False as that sums up the worth of its services

I asked how this would help me make and receive calls?

I bet she replied "You want to take the discount offer or not. You have 10 sec to reply, and the clock is ticking".

[Thai at Heart]

What did anyone expect him to say.

"No, indeed, the deal was bent, I think we should cancel it straight away and refund all our 3g customers?"

[Payboy]

The company feels that it is a victim of politics.

Anyone remember those complaints against DTAC being foreign owned?