National Telecom ordered to pay THB 4.6 billion in revenue-sharing dispute
The Central Administrative Court has ordered National Telecom Plc (NT), Thailand’s state-owned telecommunications enterprise, to pay over 4.6 billion baht in compensation to a Jasmine International subsidiary in a dispute over revenue sharing, Subhoj Sunyabhisithkul, acting CEO of Jasmine International Plc, said on Thursday.
The court ruled on Wednesday that NT must comply with a 2019 decision by an arbitration tribunal and ordered it to pay 4.67 billion baht to Jasmine Submarine Telecommunications Co Ltd, Subhoj said.
The amount includes the 3.39 billion baht in principal plus interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum.
NT was formed in January 2021 by a merger of state-run telecom enterprises TOT and CAT Telecom.
The dispute occurred in 2014 between Jasmine Submarine and TOT.
In May 2019, the tribunal ordered TOT to pay Jasmine Submarine its share of revenue from September 2008 to October 2011, along with interest.
NT later filed a petition with the Central Administrative Court, seeking annulment of the arbitration award granted by the tribunal.
Early this month, the Thai Cabinet approved NT’s 5G business project and operational expenditure of 6.7 billion baht to capitalise on the 26-gigahertz spectrum range until its licence expires in 2036.
It was reported that NT aimed to provide 5G technology on the 26GHz range for 438 organisations in the Eastern Economic Corridor over the next six years.
NT also operates mobile services on the 2100MHz and 2300MHz spectrum ranges inherited from TOT as well as the 850Mhz range from CAT Telecom.
The telecom enterprise obtained the 700MHz spectrum licence through CAT Telecom, which participated in the 5G spectrum licence auction held in 2020.
It was awaiting approval from the National Economic and Social Development Council after submitting at the council’s request details of the adjusted conditions of its 5G business project leveraging the 700MHz range.
