TOT to hire consultant for selection of strategic partners

Five telecommunication companies have already submitted proposals to become the state agency’s business partners. They are Advanced Info Service, True Corp, Total Access Communication (DTAC), Loxley, Samart Corp and Mobile LTE.

A TOT source said the consultant would help the agency evaluate its proposals. Financial aspects will be taken into account, of both the potential partners and TOT itself, as well as legal aspects. 

The consultant is expected to take four months to complete the study. 

The TOT board recently disclosed that Softbank from Japan had also shown an interest in becoming a strategic partner, but it declined to elaborate.

TOT is in need of strong business partners to improve its financial performance. Both TOT and the other state telecommunications agency, CAT Telecom, began to pass all of their concession revenue, which had been their main source of income, to the state in December 2013, as mandated by the 2010 Frequency Allocation Act.

TOT’s core businesses are telecom infrastructure, telecommunication towers, international gateways and submarine cables, mobile-phone service, fixed-line telephone and broadband Internet service, and information-technology services.