CAT-True deals subject to thorough scrutiny
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The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will set up a subcommittee to examine all aspects of CAT Telecom's deals with True Corp regarding their 3G service partnership.
The move is in accordance with a resolution by the regulator’s telecom committee yesterday.
NBTC member Prawit Leesata-pornwongsa said the new panel would be required to complete the probe within 45 days of its establishment.
The agency’s telecom committee will convene to set up the subcommittee next week.
Prawit said the wholesale-resale deals between True’s subsidiary Real Move and CAT had not been deemed to be in contravention of Article 46 (2) of the 2010 Frequency Allocation Act by another NBTC subcommittee assigned last year to study the law’s effect on the telecommunications industry.
However, the NBTC still needs to investigate whether the leasing contract for third-generation network equipment between True’s subsidiary Real Future and CAT in the same 3G partnership contradicts the frequency law regarding spectrum use, he added.
True took over the telecom business in Thailand of Hong Kong’s Hutchison telecom in December 2010. In January 2011, CAT, Real Future and Real Move signed contracts paving the way for their partnership in the 3G business using the 850-megahertz spectrum.
The deals see Real Future’s subsidiary BFKT (Thailand) procuring equipment for CAT to generate 3G bandwidth capacity for wholesale purposes for about 14 years.
CAT has also allocated its 850MHz for exclusive use with BFKT network equipment for about 14 years, as well as wholesaling 3G capacity to Real Move to provide the service for the same period.
Article 46 of the frequency law obliges NBTC licence holders such as CAT and TOT to utilise spectra to provide service on their own, and they are prohibited from granting part or the whole spectrum management rights to other parties.
True filed a complaint at the Central Administrative Court that the regulator had abused its power by ordering CAT and Real Move to jointly amend part of their wholesale-resale contract regarding the 3G service in order to make the deal comply with its anti-monopoly regulations.
The CAT-True 3G deals sparked criticism concerning their legitimacy, not least over whether they need to comply with the 1992 Public-Private Joint Venture Act. Many state authorities stepped in to examine the deals.
Executives of True and the state agency affirmed, however, that the deals were in strict compliance with all related law and regulations.
MVNO
In a related legal matter, NBTC member Colonel Settapong Malisuwan yesterday said the NBTC could grant new licences for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), as their business is acceptable under the frequency law as long as they do not use telecom licence holders’ spectra to provide the service.
The NBTC set up a subcommittee last December to examine the effect of Article 46 (2) of the law on the telecom industry, especially on MVNOs.
Settapong said that as part of the panel’s study, MVNO business had been deemed permissible under the law.
The NBTC’s telecom committee yesterday approved the study results of the MVNO subcommittee.
The watchdog’s predecessor, the National Telecommunications Commission, had issued 17 MVNO licences, but then suspended their issuance once the 2010 frequency law took effect out of concern that this type of business might contravene Article 46 (2).
MVNOs are firms without their own network or spectrum that have partnered with telecom operators to provide services.
