CAT, True to discuss anti-monopoly amend

CAT chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong said yesterday that his agency had asked the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to extend the amendment deadline to the end of this month from early November, given that he had to submit the case for acknowledgement by the CAT board.
The board of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which has since been replaced by the NBTC, passed a resolution on September 28 that CAT and True should jointly and voluntarily amend some details of their contracts within 30 days. If they failed to do so within that period, the NTC would order them to do so.
The voluntary joint amendments sought by the watchdog ranged from their exclusive use of third-generation wireless broadband equipment to the bandwidth capacity CAT has to allocate to Real Move, a wholly owned subsidiary of True.
The first amendment involves CAT’s agreement to lease HSPA (high-speed packet access) equipment from BKFT (Thailand), which is also part of True Group. The clause states that CAT has agreed to lease the equipment and telecom towers from BKFT and BKFT has agreed to lease such equipment to CAT only. Another clause states that CAT has the exclusive right to benefit from the BKFT telecom towers that it has leased.
The NTC also wanted revision of some clauses in the deal between CAT and Real Move regarding wholesaling and retailing of 3G bandwidth capacity.
One clause obliges CAT to provide sufficient wholesale 3G capacity at the agreed bandwidth to Real Move at all times to enable it to provide service to customers from the first day of the service throughout the contract period. The agreed bandwidth includes CAT’s average network capacity and a maximum 80 per cent of network capacity Real Move is eligible to use during the first three years.
Another clause is that CAT can wholesale the bandwidth not used by Real Move to other parties, but the deals CAT will grant those parties must contain the same conditions as the CAT-Real Move deal.
Meanwhile, the CAT’s board of directors yesterday selected Dusadee Sinjermsiri as chairman in the board members’ first meeting since their recent nomination by the Finance Ministry. Dusadee is former director-general of the Public Relations Department.
The board also acknowledged that the impact from flooding on CAT’s assets and revenue combined with its contribution to flood victims would cost Bt300 million.
It also ordered management to prepare the details of the CAT-True 3G business collaboration and the state agency’s development of fibre-optic-based broadband network service, to be submitted for the board’s next meeting on November 21.
A CAT source said that at its next meeting the board would also consider Jirayuth’s recent tender of his resignation as CEO. Jirayuth has held the post for two years and two months. Jirayuth could not be reached to confirm this.
In a related matter, CAT has officially informed its concession holder Total Access Communication of the opinion of the Office of the Attorney-General that DTAC can upgrade its network to provide 3G service on 850 megahertz under the terms of the concession. This means DTAC has to share 30 per cent of annual revenue from such service with CAT.