CAT claims TrueMove, DPC customers as 'legally its own'

The agency will this month finalise its plan for taking care of TrueMove and DPC customers after the two companies’ concessions expire, said CAT chief executive officer Kitisak Sriprasert.
The plan will then be submitted for consideration by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission.
Kitisak said he had yet to discuss the matter with the NBTC, which has already assigned a subcommittee to work out a plan to handle the situation arising from the expiry of the TrueMove and DPC concessions next year.
He maintained that under the concession contracts, the combined 18 million customers belong to CAT. The state agency, therefore, needs to keep the 1,800MHz spectrum bands it granted to TrueMove and DPC, so that it can serve these customers when the concession periods end.
CAT plans to allow both cellular operators to continue providing service to their customers on the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) basis by using the 1,800MHz spectrum.
An MVNO is a business that does not possess its own network and leases spectrum bandwidth from another entity – which in this case would be CAT – in order to provide service.
Kitisak referred to Article 83 of the Frequency Allocation Act, which requires that the NBTC has to set specific periods in which spectrum holders must return their spectra for reallocation by the NBTC.
However, he said, the NBTC should also take into consideration the desire by spectrum holders such as CAT to maintain the spectra for their own use. CAT wants to keep the 1,800MHz spectrum until the end of its licence term in 2025.
At a separate event, True Corp chief executive officer Suphachai Chearavanont yesterday said he still had no idea where his company’s customers would be transferred after the concession ends.
Investors keep asking him this question, but he is unable to enlighten them, he said.
Kitisak said he had informally consulted the government’s legal adviser, the Council of State, as to whether CAT could keep the concessioned spectra after the concessions expire.
In a related matter, CAT is expected to complete its talks this month with True group on how to jointly revise their 3G service partnership contracts so as to bring them into compliance with the Frequency Allocation Act.
CAT has informed the NBTC that it needs one more month to wrap up the talks on the matter.
It will submit for its board’s consideration on August 15 the options for joint contract revision, namely, whether to revise only six points identified by the NBTC or to create new contracts.
However, True said last week that the parties should amend only six points in the contracts.
The need for contract amendment follows an order by the NBTC telecom committee, whose subcommittee found that parts of the deals breached the law.
Article 46 (2) of the Frequency Allocation Act prohibits NBTC licence-holders such as CAT and TOT from allowing third parties to take control of their spectrum management.
CAT and True subsidiaries Real Future and Real Move signed contracts in January last year to forge the partnership. Under the deals, CAT has leased 3G network equipment from Real Future’s BFKT (Thailand) to generate 3G bandwidth for wholesale purposes, and has since wholesaled such bandwidth to Real Move.
The contacts attracted scrutiny by a number of state authorities due to their doubtful legality.