CAT seeks time to amend True deal
CAT Telecom will tell the regulator that it needs another month for further talks with True Corp about revising their 3G partnership contracts to make them comply with the frequency allocation law.
CEO Kitisak Sriprasert said yesterday that CAT would draft a new contract in a month. During that time, it would be better for Real Move of True to suspend expansion of its 3G customer base, he said. Real Move has 2 million subscribers and 7,000 cellular base stations.
CAT might drop the condition that it has to reserve 80 per cent of its network capacity for Real Move’s use during the first three years. Then CAT could lease 3G network capacity to other interested firms.
CAT submitted to its board options for revising its contracts with True Corp for providing third-generation cellular service. The options include fixing the six problem items in the contracts identified by the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission (NBTC), and scrapping the contracts and preparing new ones. The board did not select any option but asked for a new financial forecast and a new business model for this 3G partnership business.
The amendments became necessary after the NBTC’s telecom committee said CAT had to make the contracts fully comply with Article 46(2) of the Frequency Allocation Law. Its probe found that CAT appears not to have complete management control over its own 850-megahertz spectrum used for the partnership.
CAT and True’s subsidiaries, Real Future and Real Move, signed the deals last January to forge a partnership to provide a 3G-850MHz service. BFKT (Thailand) of Real Future has leased 3G equipment to CAT for 3G bandwidth, wholesale and resale. CAT has offered the 3G bandwidth to Real Move to provide the service. The deals have brought criticism and a series of probes by state authorities over their doubtful legality.
