CAT to sue NBTC and firms for Bt6bn
CAT TELECOM plans to file a Bt6-billion lawsuit at the Central Administrative Court against the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, TrueMove, and Digital Phone Co for failing to pay a network rental fee.
CAT said that TrueMove and DPC refused to pay it the fee, which was incurred during the second phase of the so-called remedy period.
The second phase is from September until the NBTC-organised 1800MHz licence auction on November 11.
CAT acting chief executive officer Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana said that the state agency planned to file the lawsuit early next month.
Last year,CAT filed a similar lawsuit against these three parties at the same court but the case covered only the first phase of the remedy period from September 2013 to September 2014. CAT has not yet received any compensation.
In the first lawsuit, it asked for compensation of Bt280 billion. The compensation figure included CAT’s rights over TrueMove’s 17 million subscribers and DPC’s 60,000 subscribers at the time of the first phase remedy period.
After their concessions expired in September 2013, the NBTC permitted TrueMove and DPC to continue migrating customers – those who had failed to move to other networks – for a year during the remedy period.
They have used CAT’s network in serving customers during the period until the present.
But the NBTC extended the remedy period for both operators for another year after the military seized power and the National Council for Peace and Order ordered the watchdog to suspend its plan to auction the 1,800MHz bands for 12 months.
Meanwhile, CAT has proposed two flagship projects to new Information and Communication Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana – the development of the innovation park project at Sri Racha in Chon Buri and the plan to turn Thailand into the regional hub for submarine cables.
Sanpachai said that the two projects would serve the government’s plan to develop a “smart city”, which was part of the administration’s digital economy policy.
CAT would develop the innovation park on 700 rai (112 hectares) at its international data centre hub at Sri Racha. The park is where start-up small and medium-sized enterprises would be able to use its ICT facilities to run their businesses.
CAT plans to set up a joint venture with strategic partners to develop the park. It will ask the Board of Investment for tax privilege to woo partners.
Last Friday, CAT submitted its business plan to Uttama, including its desire to hold its idle 20MHz of bandwidth of 1800MHz until 2025 and use it for a 4G service, and its desire to end all its legal disputes with state and private parties. The combined value of these cases is Bt400 billion.
Sanpachai added that the proposal to hold the 20MHz of 1800MHz had been sent to Wissanu Krea-ngam, deputy prime minister in charge of legal affairs, for consideration.
