True defends 3G contracts
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True Corp yesterday repeated its insistence that its contracts with CAT Telecom to provide third-generation cellular service on the 850-megahertz spectrum do not circumvent the law.
In a statement released to the press, the firm said the recent finding by the Senate’s anti-corruption and good governance committee that parts of the contracts might breach the law had no legal binding on the CAT-True Group contracts, which are therefore still valid.
The Senate committee announced its findings last week and has forwarded them to the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
True said that under the contracts, CAT was the sole operator of the service on the 850MHz spectrum and would not transfer rights to BFKT (Thailand), a unit of True, to manage the spectrum on CAT’s behalf. CAT also has authority to control the HSPA (high-speed packet access) 3G network equipment it has rented from BFKT to generate 3G bandwidth.
The Senate committee concluded that CAT had seemingly allowed BFKT to manage its 850MHz spectrum. This might breach the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law, which prohibits NBTC licence holders such as CAT and TOT from allowing other parties to manage their spectra. The licence holders have to provide services on their spectra themselves.
While the Senate committee suggested that BFKT circumvented the Telecom Business Act by renting the HSPA network to CAT without having an NBTC business licence, True argued that BFKT was not subject to that act.
The act defines a telecom business operator as one that provides a service to the public. BFKT rents the network only to CAT and provides maintenance services on the network for CAT, True maintains.
