AIS 'worried' foreign links may hurt its bid
Advanced Info Service has told the major shareholders of its parent company of its concern that the foreign shareholding structure of the parent could pose a risk to AIS's plan to bid for a licence for the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum.
An AIS executive source yesterday said the company had made its concern clear to the Singapore state investment arm Temasek Holdings. Temasek controls Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings, which are the two major shareholders of InTouch.
InTouch, formerly known as Shin Corp, is AIS’s parent.
Cedar currently owns about 38.4 per cent of InTouch, while Aspen has about 41 per cent and the remaining shares are free-floated in the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
InTouch owns more than 40 per cent of AIS, while Singapore Telecom holds 21.22 per cent of the company.
Cedar Holdings is at the centre of public doubt as to who is its absolute shareholder. It is jointly owned by Cypress Holdings, which is a Temasek unit, and Thai-registered Kularb Kaew.
The Thai authorities have not yet finalised the issue of absolute ownership of Kularb Kaew.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is expected in April to complete the terms and conditions for auctioning the much-awaited 2.1GHz spectrum licences.
It intends auctioning the licences in the third quarter of the year. The issue of foreign ownership in local telecom operators was hotly debated in the public hearing of the licence-auction rules of the now-defunct National Telecommunications Commission in 2010.
Some parties at the time said that telecom spectra, which are a precious national resource, should not fall into the hands of foreign-owned telecom operators, because of concerns over national security.
True Corp is the only local telecom operator with no foreign strategic partner. Total Access Communication (DTAC) has Norway’s Telenor as its partner.
Meanwhile, foreign investors are keeping a close eye on how the NBTC will deal with the existing regulations for preventing foreign dominance in local telecom operators.
The watchdog will decide soon whether to revise or revoke the regulations, after the criticism that they appear to contradict Thailand’s international trade commitments.
The regulations define foreign dominance as direct or indirect control over a telecom company’s policies and the appointment of directors and high-ranking management.
DTAC filed a complaint with the Central Administrative Court last November claiming the regulations were illegal and unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, AIS yesterday announced an 8.31-per-cent increase in net profit to Bt22.22 billion for last year.
