CAT Hopes For Future Deals With Concession Holders

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CAT hopes for future deals with concession holders

USANEE MONGKOLPORN

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- CAT Telecom is seeking a possible future partnership with its three private cellular concession holders so they can all use CAT's network assets once they get transferred back to the agency when the concessions come to an end.

The state agency's new chief |executive officer Kitisak Sriprasert said one option would be to have CAT convert its assets into equities, and added that this idea had already been floated with the three concession holders. He added that a future network partnership would also help them save on the cost of the new network rollout.

Kitisak explained that CAT was interested in a long-term partnership, especially if one of the partners were able to clinch a 2.1GHz spectrum licence from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunica-tions Commission (NBTC).

CAT currently owns the concessions of TrueMove, Digital Phone Co (DPC) and Total Access Communi-cation (DTAC). The concessions held by TrueMove and DPC will expire next September, while that of DTAC ends in 2018.

Meanwhile, Kitisak, who took over as CEO on March 21, said he did not agree with TrueMove's proposal that it purchase the cellular network from CAT once the concession ends. He explained that if CAT were to sell its assets to concession holders, then it would have nothing left. Instead, he said, it would be better to jointly utilise the networks and generate new revenue sources.

CAT is currently caught in a dispute with DTAC and TrueMove on which parts of the network assets they should transfer back. Kitisak said he might have to take some of these issues to court.

3G SCHEMES

As for problems related to the 3G partnership deals between CAT and True Corp, he said the agency would find ways to remedy the situation in 15 days.

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has already written to CAT asking it to fix things, especially after the ministry's panel found five alleged irregularities in the process of making the deals.

The irregularities include the |fact that the deal was planned in advance so it could pave the way for True Corp to take over Hutchison Telecoms' network in Thailand, which then opened the door for a CAT-True 3G partnership later. CAT also appeared to bypass several state procedures and regulations to finalise these deals with True.

Kitisak said his greatest concern right now was whether these deals had violated the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law. NBTC, which has the jurisdiction to rule on this aspect, has already set up a subcommittee to examine the case.

Article 46 (2) of the law obliges NBTC licence holders to manage their spectrum rights on their own. They are prohibited from allowing other parties to do the job on their behalf.

Meanwhile, the National Anti-Corruption Commission's subcommittee will decide on April 23 if the deals had breached any laws or regulations. Its scrutiny will focus on whether the deals complied with the 1992 Public-Private Joint Venture Act.

CAT and True's subsidiaries, Real Move and Real Future, signed 3G-partnership deals last January. Under these deals, CAT procured 3G-network equipment from Real Future's subsidiary BFKT (Thailand) in order to sell its 3G bandwidth. The state agency also allocated part of the bandwidth for resale under its "My" brand.

Kitisak said CAT would also ask the National Economic and Social Development Board and the Finance Ministry if it could spend Bt7.84 billion on enhancing My service's operation. Of the total budget, Bt300 million would be used for procuring a real-time billing system for the service so it can launch a prepaid call service. CAT hopes to procure this billing system on April 24.

At present, My service only offers post-paid services and it currently has 15,000 subscribers. Kitisak said CAT had revised down its customer target for this year to 500,000 from 600,000.

CAT has also temporarily suspended its plan to spend Bt12 billion on expanding its telecom infrastructure to support the 3G services offered under the deals, pending remedial measures.

-- The Nation 2012-04-16

[Crushdepth]

After the way CAT has behaved, their concession holders will be running away screaming the instant they can get their own license.

[Thai at Heart]

Still none the wiser as to what CAT actually does

[clockman]

it seems as if its never been about providing something for the public, its all about politics and money. T.I.T

[Crushdepth]

Still none the wiser as to what CAT actually does

Cancel All Technology.

[CP3]

So what is the future for CAT CDMA ? In the market,very hard to find CAT 3g SIMs. I like CAT very much still because on the move, it has been good. And none other 3g operator offer unlimited on 3g network, are there?

[4evermaat]

So what is the future for CAT CDMA ? In the market,very hard to find CAT 3g SIMs. I like CAT very much still because on the move, it has been good. And none other 3g operator offer unlimited on 3g network, are there?

The 3g sims you are referring to CAT CDMA? or My[by]Cat 3g sims? MyByCat sims were easy to obtain at any CAT office. Strangly enough, I didn't need work permit or other secondary proof of residence. Only my passport for the postpaid MyCat SIM and 99 baht. That could also be because i'm familiar with some of the people at the office. Not sure how a first time visitor would fare out.

CAT CDMA is still going strong in my area of Chumphon. Only 3.1Mb Down but 80%+ of the time I can get the full 3.1 Mbps down. They are indeed the last "unlimited" 3G option. Use it up as long as possible I've heard its gone downhill in some places, like Patong. I just don't see them ending it anytime soon to be honest, regardless of the news reports. Unless the maintenance becomes too costly. And it won't be a sweeping ending, i'm sure it will scale out.

It's actually a good thing that we still have choices in certain areas.

Edited April 19, 2012 by 4evermaat

[CP3]

I am referring to CAT 3G unlimited sim. "My" sim has 4G limitation for 3G speed then it will be back to evdo?/