CAT may opt for legal action against NBTC

CAT Telecom is considering a legal challenge against the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s plan to allow TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) to continue to serve their 17 million subscribers during a one-year transition period after their concessions with CAT expire on September 15.

A majority of the NBTC’s board on Wednesday voted to approve this draft plan.

CAT chief executive officer Kitisak Sriprasert said yesterday that the plan appears to contradict the concession contract, which says that after its expiry, all subscribers must be transferred to CAT. But the draft plan would allow both cellular operators to continue overseeing customers after the concessions end.

A CAT source said most members of the state telecom agency’s board on Wednesday agreed that it should sue the NBTC over the draft plan. The CAT board will convene on this issue again in two weeks to discuss what to do next. The board is also waiting for management to come to a conclusion on this issue and present it to the board.

Kitisak said that if CAT declined to take any action on this issue, the state agency would risk facing the charge of negligence of duty. He affirmed that the customers of TrueMove and DPC would not be affected by any legal action against the NBTC plan as the CAT would seek agreements with both operators.

The 11-member board of the NBTC on Wednesday voted 9-2 to approve the draft plan to allow TrueMove and DPC to cooperate with CAT on continued service to their combined 17 million users during the one-year transition after their concessions expire. Commissioners Supinya Klangnarong and Prawit Leesatapornwongsa voted against the plan.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit said on Wednesday that the commission referred to Articles 20 and 15 of the telecom law to support this plan. Article 20 says telecommunication service cannot be disrupted, and Article 15 that the NBTC can issue a condition to protect consumers. 

The revenue from subscribers during this one-year transition period would be transferred to the state after expenses are deducted.

Takorn insisted that this would not amount to an extension of the concessions for TrueMove and DPC but was only aimed at protecting their customers from the effects of the concessions’ expiry.

Legal experts earlier questioned the legitimacy of the plan on grounds that there is no law to support it.