Ownership disputes hold up move for JVs

The plans of the two state telecommunication agencies to establish joint ventures with their current concession holders to earn revenue from their network assets after the concessions expire will have to be delayed because of unresolved issues on who owns these assets.

The delay was confirmed this week by Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap.

CAT Telecom is still engaged in disputes with both of its concession holders, Total Access Communication (DTAC) and TrueMove, on whether they have to transfer the telecom towers to CAT after the concessions end.

Although the other agency, TOT, has no such dispute with its concession holder Advanced Info Service, Anudith said AIS had been hesitant to join TOT in setting up a so-called Tower Co subsidiary to share these assets. He said AIS wanted to wait and see the final outcome of the CAT disputes on telecom-tower ownership. If it ends up being resolved that the towers belong to DTAC and TrueMove, AIS wants a similar agreement from TOT. 

Anudith said this was understandable, as AIS, TrueMove and DTAC are competitors, and AIS does not want to lose advantage to them. 

While all three have similar build-transfer operate (BTO) contracts, those of DTAC and TrueMove reportedly do not state clearly whether they have to transfer the towers to CAT. AIS’s contract states clearly that it has to transfer all network assets, from base stations to towers, to TOT upon expiry of the concession.

TOT is eager to wrap up talks with AIS on forming the Tower Co joint venture before the end of the year. The venture is part of TOT’s business-survival plan. 

The 2010 Frequency Allocation Law obliges TOT and CAT to transfer all concession fees to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission at the beginning of next year, and NBTC will in turn pass those monies to the state. This has prompted both TOT and CAT to seek non-concession revenue sources to ensure their survival.

CAT chief executive officer Kitisak Sriprasert said his agency was in talks with True Corp, parent of TrueMove, and DTAC on possible network collaboration. He said the talks had produced positive results.

However, a CAT source said the agency’s board had asked management to talk with TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC), which also holds a CAT concession, on their retroactively sharing revenue with the state agency gained from using their networks under concessions to support their business groups’ provision of 2.1-gigahertz service.

DPC is a subsidiary of AIS, which has another subsidiary, Advanced Wireless Network, to provide third-generation wireless broadband on the 2.1GHz spectrum. True’s subsidiary Real Future provides a similar service.