Panel puts off decision on CAT-True deals to May

The committee of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had been expected to reach a conclusion on April 5 as to whether the deals were proper or not before postponing it to yesterday, after some members requested more time.
Methee Klongkaew, chairman of the committee, yesterday denied that the panel was dragging out its decision, but could not guarantee that one would be made at the May 8 meeting. If a recommendation is forthcoming at that meeting, it will be submitted to the NACC in June.
The remaining questions are whether the deals breached the Frequency Allocation Act and Public-Private Joint Venture Act, whether the 850-megahertz allocation by CAT to Real Move to provide the third-generation cellular service needed to be done via an auction, and whether the deals created a monopoly.
True’s stock closed at Bt3.66, down 1.08 per cent from Friday.
The deals signed by CAT and True’s subsidiaries Real Move and Real Future in January last year have drawn the scrutiny of many authorities over their legal status.
The Senate good governance and anti-corruption committee concluded in February that the agreements appeared to infringe related laws and regulations, especially the Frequency Allocation Act.
Last month, another committee set up by the Information and Communications Technology Ministry found five irregularities in the making of the deals and forwarded its report to the NACC for inquiry. The irregularities ranged from what appeared to be a well-designed political plan to pave the way for the deals to the CAT’s bypassing of some state procedures to make the agreements.
But the ICT Ministry said True-CAT could continue the 3G business under the arrangement, since the scrutiny focused on how the deals were made and the state officials involved in them, not on their details.
True executives have reaffirmed their belief that the deals followed all laws and regulations.
True chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont has declared that True Group will not revise its plan to spend Bt40 billion this year on the expansion of the 3G-HSPA (high-speed packet access) network under arrangements with state enterprise CAT.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has set up a committee to probe whether the deals violated Article 46(2) of the Frequency Allocation Law, and the panel will hold its second meeting soon.
The law prohibits NBTC licence holders such as CAT and TOT from allowing other parties to manage their spectra on their behalf.
Under the deals signed during the previous government, CAT procured 3G network equipment from BFKT (Thailand) of Real Future to generate 3G bandwidth for wholesale.
CAT wholesaled its 3G bandwidth to Real Move, which provides the service under the TrueMove H brand. Real Move now has about a million subscribers. CAT also offers a 3G retail service on a post-paid basis under its own My brand, which now has 15,000 customers.