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Four plan to bid on 900MHz licenses
Four telecom companies - Advanced Wireless Network of Advanced Info Service, DTAC TriNet of Total Access Communication, True Move H Universal Communication of True Corp and Jas Mobile of Jasmine International - have confirmed that they will submit bid documents today for the 900MHz auction.
They are the same four companies submitting bids for the two licences on the 1,800-megahertz spectrum.
Each of them has to post a Bt644-million bank guarantee for joining the 900MHz auction and pay more than Bt500,000 for the application fee.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will take about 15 days to complete pre-qualification of the bidders.
It will auction the two 1,800MHz licences on November 11 and the two 900MHz licences on November 12.
Port Authority to develop freight station
The Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) plans to develop a 9,800-square-metre export-container freight station to serve higher demand for shipping of added-value products.
The station will be located on 45 rai (7.2 hectares) in the PAT customers’ compound. The targeted products include mobile phones, personal computers, and notebook computers.
“PAT is studying the design, operational and management system, utilities, and the environment impact assessment report,” said Sub-Lieutenant Songtham Chantaprasit, acting director-general of PAT.
BAAC looks into capital increase
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has set up a team to study a |possible capital increase to cope with estimated loan growth of |8-10 per cent per annum in the future.
The bank also plans to launch three relief measures for farmers, with a combined value of nearly Bt40 billion. The measures are expected to be forwarded to the Cabinet before the end of this month.
Luck Wajananawat, president of the BAAC, said its lending was projected to rise by 8-10 per cent or Bt120 billion per year.
“The BAAC has assessed its future tasks with expansion of loans to farmers every year.
If the bank does not increase its capital, its loan expansion will lower its capital adequacy ratio by 0.8-1 percentage point per year to below the Bank of Thailand’s requirement,” Luck said.
The BAAC’s capital adequacy ratio is currently 11.8 per cent.
The study team was therefore required despite the bank’s current strong financial health.
This year, the bank expects loan growth of 11.2 per cent or Bt120 |billion, about Bt30 billion higher than targeted.
In the first six months, new lending expanded by Bt70 billion.
At the end of September, its non-performing loans were 5.66 per cent of total loans, or about Bt50 billion to Bt60 billion.
The figure was 3.38 per cent or Bt30 billion at the end of its |2014 fiscal year ending March 31, 2015.
