Important Notice For Any 'true' Subscribers

[sriracha john]

In an ongoing tit for tat dispute, subscribers may be left out:

TOT declares war on True, may axe company

The state phone corporation TOT Plc yesterday threatened to terminate True Corp’s fixed-line concession, claiming it has failed to abide by its contract.

The move – which could be a big blow to True’s two million subscribers – follows True’s major arbitration victory against TOT in their network dispute.

“There is enough evidence that True has repeatedly and seriously violated the concession terms for us to end its contract,” TOT president Teerawit Charuwat said without elaborating.

TOT would pay True Bt26 billion for terminating the concession and would seize back its network and transfer True’s customers to TOT, its board has decided. The compensation figure is based on True’s book value for the concession.

He said TOT would pursue the termination process through the Attorney-General’s Office soon.

True’s concession runs until October 29, 2017.

“And from now on True will face a series of lawsuits from us. There’re still many cases we’ve yet to make a filing for and there’ll be no compromises,” Teerawit said.

TOT has already sued True many times for allegedly breaching the concession’s conditions. The total damages it claims for these is over Bt19 billion.

True president Supachai Chearavanont told The Nation that True would file a counter-suit against TOT if its threat to revoke True’s concession causes True any damage.

He said the concession clearly states that a ruling of the arbitration court in a dispute between the grantor and grantee of a concession is final, with no right of appeal to a court of law.

“If you revoke our concession, you don’t respect the court’s ruling and will discredit yourself,” Supachai said.

Choochart Promphrasid, chairman of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), expressed concern about the disunity of local telecoms, saying it would weaken them in the face of foreign competition.

“Foreign telecom operators have already set foot in Thailand. They will smile when they see their Thai telecom competitors at loggerheads with each other,” he said.

True vice chairman Athueck Asvanund said TOT should consult with its legal unit to see if it has the authority to terminate True’s concession.

“Such a countermeasure [by TOT] should not happen. It looks shameful,” he said.

Besides True, TT&T Plc has filed a similar claim against TOT for Bt28 billion. The two parties are in the process of selecting a chairman for an Arbitration Court hearing.

The battle between TOT and True has flared following True’s court dramatic win on Monday.

True filed the case against TOT in August 2002, claiming a share of benefits gained by TOT from providing special services on True’s network.

The Arbitration Court ruling – made last Friday and formally released on Monday – said that with respect to lost revenues up to August 22, 2002, TOT has to pay True a sum of more than Bt9 billion, plus interest. The payment must be made within 60 days of the ruling.

The ruling said True was entitled to benefits derived from TOT’s provision of special services on True’s network, and from TOT’s permission for others to provide special services on True’s network.

For the period after August 22, 2002, TOT must pay True 50 per cent of the benefits gained by TOT from accessing True’s network.

Teerawit said TOT’s board also asked TOT to appeal to the Central Administrative Court within 30 days to override the Arbitration Court ruling. It could take a year before the dispute is completely resolved, he said.

That means TOT might have to delay its launch of an initial public offering for one year from next quarter, he said.

“The board may call a meeting soon to see if the IPO plan has to be put off,” he said.

Unsettled court cases between TOT and its private concession holders, including True and TT&T, are part of the reason TOT could not list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand last year. It was concerned that the cases would make its stock unattractive in the eyes of investors.

The Nation

[Thaising]

As a true subscriber, we can only cross our fingers and hope TOT won't unplug our WWW world.

[sriracha john]

There's always TOT's own free dial-up service if they do cut the line for True. They say they can almost always give you at least a

mind-boggling speedy 19Kbps connection.

[sua yai]

There's always TOT's own free dial-up service if they do cut the line for True. They say they can almost always give you at least a

mind-boggling speedy 19Kbps connection.

No, no no. You've just sent shivers down my spine. I put up with TOT free for two years. The computer's lucky it's still in one piece and the local TOT office hasn't been bombed.

As for "free", my phone bills were knocking on 2,000 a mth and that was just for internet connections. No phone calls.

Thank goodness for ADSL. I'm almost sane again - until I read that post

[skippybangkok]

Recon the Gorrilla had a severe case of "nah tehg" ( loss of face ) with loosing 9 billion.