Sepo urges TOT, CAT to get moving on consolidation plan, but workers object
TOT has only Bt20 billion cash in hand, enough to meet its payroll for just 20 months, so it is time for TOT and CAT Telecom to consolidate their core businesses to ensure their survival, according to Rasa Kanchanasai, director of state-enterprise develop
She said Sepo was trying to propose suitable models for TOT and CAT to survive by merging their core businesses into three consolidated companies.
However, yesterday the State Enterprise Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC), representing employees of 56 state enterprises, held a press conference at CAT headquarters in Chaeng Wattana Road to oppose the government’s consolidation plan for TOT and CAT. About 1,000 employees of the two telecommunications agencies joined the event.
Private control feared
The SERC said the merger plan would allow private companies to take control of core telecom networks in the near future. It argued that such networks should be controlled by the state by national-security reasons.
On July 11, the State Enterprise Policy Commission instructed TOT and CAT to hire consultants separately for the merger plan within three months, set up the consolidated companies within six months and transfer all assets to them within a year.
The commission, also known as the “superboard”, ordered them to merge their transmission |and fibre-optics network as |the National Broadband Network Co (NBN) with asset valuation |of Bt15 billion, their Internet gateway and submarine-cable networks as the Neutral Gateway Network Co (NGN) with asset valuation of Bt5 billion, and their Internet data centres as IDC Co.
Pansak Siriratchatapong, vice minister of information and communications technology, said at the event that the consolidation process was part of the government’s effort to help the two telecom agencies be stronger in the future. However, both were free to propose better business plans to the ICT Ministry.
Sangvorn Phumtien, president of CAT’s labour union, said CAT believed there were other ways to survive than merging operations with TOT.
Pongtiti Silamanee, president of TOT’s union, said it needed time to seek better solutions to propose to the ICT and hoped that the government would change its policy on the consolidation plan.
