True may appeal court ruling over Bt9-bn TOT case

True told the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that it was considering taking the case to the upper court to protect its interests after the Central Administrative Court dismissed its petition demanding compensation from TOT over access charges as ruled by an arbitration panel in February 2006.
True sought arbitration in the case in late 2002, demanding a share of benefits gained by TOT for providing special services on the True network and allowing others to provide special services via the network. The arbitration panel ruled in 2006 that TOT had to pay True Bt9.175 billion, and True later petitioned the Central Administrative Court, demanding that the amount be paid.
However, according to the court’s ruling yesterday, the arbitration panel did not comply with the TOT-True concession contract in its ruling, given that neither side had agreed to share revenue in such special cases. Hence, it said, TOT was not bound by any agreement to share its revenue with True.
Meanwhile, the Information and Communications Technology Ministry told TOT to prepare for the court verdict last month. It warned that if the ruling were in True’s favour, then it might affect TOT’s financial status.
The state agency faces the risk of declining revenue on several fronts. From January 2014, TOT and CAT Telecom will have to put all concession fees – their main source of revenue – into the state coffers as per the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law. The TOT concession for Advanced Info Service will also end in late 2015.