True has high hopes for TRUEGIF

Noppadol Dej-Udom, group chief financial officer of True, said the company expected to bring in between Bt70 billion and Bt80 billion form selling certain major assets to the fund.
More than 50 per cent of the funds raised will be used for recapitalisation, and the rest for cash flow and new investment.
Noppadol said TRUEGIF – the first telecom infrastructure fund in Thailand – would invest in telecom towers, a core fibre-optic grid and related transmission equipment, and a broadband system in provincial areas.
The initiative supports the government’s infrastructure-sharing policy by reducing redundant investments in telecom infrastructure, strengthening operators’ competitiveness and increasing the efficiency of telecom network services for the people of Thailand, he added.
The establishment of TRUEGIF is supported by True Group, which will transfer certain of its assets and the right to benefit from the net revenues from those assets. In addition, True Group will continue to use, operate, or, if applicable, lease as the anchor tenant of certain telecom infrastructure assets, and manage the telecom infrastructure assets of which the net revenues will be sold to TRUEGIF.
True Group will subscribe for no less than 18 per cent of the aggregate TRUEGIF units.
The fund will invest in assets including the ownership of True Group’s 6,000 telecom towers, a core fibre-optic grid of 5,112 kilometres and related transmission equipment, and 1. 2 million ports in a broadband system located in provincial areas; and will have the right to benefit from net revenues generated from the lease of 5,845 towers and the core fibre-optic grid and related transmission equipment totalling 47,250km – as well as the potential to own certain of these assets that can be sold or transferred to TRUEGIF under designated conditions and timelines.
Noppadol said True had removed from the fund those telecom-tower assets that were still subject to dispute with CAT Telecom, and was instead adding its upcoming 6,000 telecom towers under the 3G-2.1GHz licence.
The company expects to complete the installation of these 6,000 towers within two years.
Despite the tense political situation, the fund is expected to gain more interest from local investors than from foreign investors, as the former are already better informed about True Group and its business model, he added.
Jotika Savanananda, president of SCBAM, said: “TRUEGIF is currently in the process of seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is expected to start selling within this year. The financial adviser of the fund is Siam Commercial Bank [SCBAM’s parent].”
She said investors had an opportunity to receive stable benefits due to True Group’s contract to use, operate, maintain and manage the telecom infrastructure assets transferred to TRUEGIF for more than 10 years.
With the support and expertise of True Group, one of the leading telecom operators and with a highly experienced management team, TRUEGIF possesses a strong competitive advantage in managing telecom assets, she added.
Jotika said the fund this year is expected to generate revenue of at least Bt5.357 billion, of which Bt4.3billion will be from CAT’s fee for leasing True Group’s 3G-850 MHz network for 12 years.
The remainder will be from True’s advance payment to the fund of the fee from its leasing of the upcoming 6,000 3G-2.1GHz telecom towers.
Songtham Phianpattanawit, manager of Telecom Asset Management (TAM) – a wholly owned subsidiary of True that operates assets for leasing to other operators – expressed confidence about TAM seeking other telecom operators to lease networks in the fund.