Satellite operator Thaicom confirms Thai ownership

Thaicom chief executive officer Suphajee Suthumpun said yesterday that it had written this week to the NBTC to verify the matter.
Last month Infobahn, which is owned by former Thaicom CEO Dumrong Kasemset, asked the commission to examine the qualifications of InTouch and Thaicom to operate a telecom business in Thailand, citing doubts over InTouch’s foreign ownership, and to see whether Thaicom’s operation was foreign-dominated. InTouch was formerly known as Shin Corp.
Suphajee said that even in the worst case that InTouch, which owns 41 per cent of Thaicom, is ruled as being foreign-dominated, Thaicom would still enjoy status as a Thai firm, given that the remaining 53 per cent is jointly held by Thai minor shareholders, both individual and institutional investors.
The Foreign Business Act caps the foreign shareholding of Thai telecom operators at 49 per cent.
The Commerce Ministry and the Stock Exchange of Thailand have also certified that Thaicom is a 94 per cent Thai-owned company, Suphajee added.
In a related matter, Suphajee said she was hopeful that the NBTC would complete its satellite-business licensing regulations soon and could grant the licences this quarter to the planned Thaicom 7 broadcasting satellite. The licence will enable Thaicom to pre-sell transponder bandwidth capacity for Thaicom 7, which is scheduled to be launched in early 2014 to the 120-degrees-east orbital slot.
Under the terms of Thaicom’s collaboration with Hong Kong’s Asia Satellite Telecommunication (AsiaSat) regarding the 120-degrees-east slot, they will jointly launch the AsiaSat6/Thaicom 7 satellite in 2014. Each operator will provide services from its portion of the satellite.
The AsiaSat6/Thaicom 7 satellite will have 28 C-band transponders, and Thaicom will own up to 14 of these. The NBTC licence will be for operating these 14 Thaicom transponders.