TOT may sue to stop planned spectrum auction
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TOT is considering suing the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to stop the planned auction of 900 megahertz licences on grounds that it has the right to hold the spectrum until 2025.
Yesterday, TOT’s executive team led by acting president Montchai Noosong met with |TOT staff at its head office on Chaeng Wattana Road to explain TOT’s stance on the 900MHz issue.
In 1990, TOT granted a 25-year concession to use the 900 megahertz spectrum to Advanced Info Service (AIS) and it expired on September 30.
The NBTC plans to auction two 900MHz licences on December 15 or in mid-November.
Montchai said he and TOT’s executive team would operate the 900MHz mobile phone business if TOT could keep the spectrum. The operating cost would be only about Bt1 billion per year.
“We admit that in the past we may have done wrong due to some external factors. We already learned a costly lesson over the 25 years with huge damages over a hundred billion baht.
“If we get the right to operate the 900MHz spectrum, we will not repeat the mistakes again,” Montchai said in response to the question from TOT employees on what management has done over the past 25 years to solve the 900MHz issue.
TOT found that total network assets under the concession were Bt180 billion but their value was only Bt19 billion after depreciation, he said.
TOT is hurrying to finish this month the inspection of 700,000 pieces of equipment that AIS transferred to it under the concession.
It is considering settling the dispute over ownership of 13,000 telecom towers under the concession with AIS. The dispute is now with an arbitration panel.
TOT consulted the State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) to see if the business partner models proposed by five potential partners were subject to the public-private joint venture law.
This means TOT’s plan to seek strategic partners is expected to be delayed for six to eight months, pending the reply from Sepo on the matter.
Yesterday, TOT executives also told 20,000 staff they were in for a tough year with a huge loss looming, and they would not be getting bonuses this year. TOT has reported a Bt1.3 billion loss for the first eight months of this year.
AIS’ stock yesterday dropped 3.10 per cent to close at Bt219.
