AIS takes to arbitration TOT's Bt72-bn damage claim
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ADVANCED Info Service has taken its dispute with TOT to arbitration, after the state agency claimed Bt72 billion in damages allegedly caused by concession amendments in the past, said Somchai Lertsuthiwong, chief executive officer of AIS.
Yesterday TOT gave the company legal written notice of its claim for damages from the sixth and seventh amendments to the concession contract. The notice indicated that TOT was basing its claim on the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling finding former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra guilty of abuse of power. AIS was founded by Thaksin.
Somchai said AIS had replied to TOT that the company had always respected the concession contract and never abused it.
“We refuse to pay the damages claimed since we did not do anything wrong. We always complied with the concession contract,” he said.
According to the contract, any dispute should be brought before an arbitration panel.
Earlier, Information and Communications Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana ordered TOT to present the legal damage-claim notice to AIS before the contract ended yesterday.
The claim will cover only the sixth and seventh concession amendments, which allegedly cost TOT Bt61.28 billion and Bt10.75 billion respectively. The figures are based on TOT’s calculation from 2001 to June 2015.
TOT granted a 25-year concession of the 900-megahertz spectrum to AIS in 1990. The sixth amendment took place in May 2001 during Thaksin’s administration, when TOT lowered the concession fee for AIS’s prepaid service from 20-25 per cent to a flat 20 per cent until the end of the concession. Currently there are around 2.3 million users left on AIS’s 900MHz network and they can still use the services until the completion of the upcoming auction of licences on that spectrum by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
Meanwhile yesterday, more than 500 TOT employees led by their labour union gathered for the second time at its headquarters on Chaeng Wattana Road to defend TOT’s right to keep the 900MHz spectrum after its concession with AIS expired.
The union led the rally to submit a letter to Monchai Noosong, acting TOT president, about its right to keep the spectrum. It will also submit the letter to the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
The union also asked the TOT board to approve a plan to take legal action against the NBTC over its auction plan. If the board does not take any action, the union will file a lawsuit against the board and executives alleging negligence of duty.
