Finding from probe into 3G deals to be revealed today
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The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will disclose its final probe result today on the legality of 3G partnership deals between CAT Telecom and True Corp. If the deals are found to be unlawful, the conclusion will be sent to other state
Information and Communications Technology Minister Group Captain Anudith Nakornthap said if the finding had any impact on 3G service subscribers under the deals, he believed related agencies would step in to seek measures to protect subscribers.
The Senate’s good governance and anti-corruption committee concluded last month that the deals may breach the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law. It also forwarded its conclusion to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC).
The NACC’s subcommittee has already started probing the deals. And the NBTC said last month it would appoint a panel to scrutinise the deals but the subcommittee has yet to be set up. Its probe will focus on whether the deals violate Article 46 (2) of the frequency allocation law, which prohibits licence holders like CAT and TOT from transferring the right to use their spectra to other parties, to act on their behalf.
True executives say the deals were made in full compliance with the law and regulations.
Last Friday, True’s share price closed at Bt3.72, up 2 per cent. Its share price dropped 4 per cent last Monday to close at Bt3.70 before closing “high” last Tuesday and Wednesday, then dipping on Thursday.
The ICT ministry’s probe team started scrutinising the deals late last year and took around 120 days to conclude their work. Anudith said earlier he would disclose the final probe result early this month but then said he needed time to finish reading the conclusion. He noted that there had been no move by any party to deter the probe.
CAT and True’s wholly-owned subsidiaries Real Move and Real Future signed the deals on January 27 last year to pave way for dual collaboration in providing the 3G-High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) service.
Under the deals, BFKT (Thailand) of Real Future has procured HSPA equipment for CAT to generate 3G bandwidth for wholesale and resales. The state agency has wholesaled the bandwidth to Real Move, which now has around one million subscribers.
The deals have drawn legal scrutiny by many state agencies, from the ICT ministry, the NACC, to the Auditor-General on whether they breach the 1992 Public-Private Joint Venture Act. The Attorney-General’s Office told the ICT ministry last July that the deals did not need to be subject to the public-private joint venture law.
Pheu Thai party, then in opposition, also launched a censure debate against previous ICT minister Chuti Krairiksh on the legitimacy of the deals.
