AIS confident its partnership proposal with TOT suitable
Advanced Info Service says its proposal to be TOT's strategic business partner is aimed at helping the state agency achieve sustainable growth.
Somchai Lertsuttiwong, chief executive officer of AIS, said the telecom was negotiating with TOT on a possible partnership with the state agency’s mobile-phone service and the possible establishment of a joint venture to manage telecommunication towers.
"We’re confident that our proposal is suitable for TOT for the long term as strategic partner," he said.
Somchai added that the partnership proposal also included the AIS plan to become TOT’s MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) partner and be involved in the network investment, but he declined to give more details.
TOT’s executive committee last Friday selected AIS as the first company it would talk with on a partnership deal. The committee decided that of the five private telecom companies that had submitted partnership models, AIS’s was the best.
The TOT management will present the results of the negotiations with AIS to the TOT board today.
The other four companies that submitted partnership proposals to TOT are True Corp, which the committee considered the second-best; Loxley, the third-best; Mobile LTE, fourth; and Samart Corp. The state agency has hired Deloitte as adviser in considering all of the proposals.
AIS has a concession held by TOT that will expire on September 30. The executive committee also ordered TOT’s management to talk with AIS on ways to settle a legal dispute about the ownership of telecommunication towers under the concession. The state agency wants to settle the dispute before the AIS concession ends. The dispute involves 13,198 telecom towers.
To solve the telecom tower dispute with AIS, TOT has three options: Allow AIS to rent the towers; set up a joint venture with AIS to manage the towers; or establish an infrastructure fund to put the towers up for lease.
Somchai said AIS was in talks with TOT on the possible creation of a joint venture to operate telecom towers, which in the initial phase might cover only those under the TOT concession contract.
However, he said the joint-venture plan might take time since it needs to be approved by the Cabinet, as it is involved with a state-agency asset.
