Were 3G deals lawful and proper?

This transparent way of doing deals is of course there to avoid corruption and to ensure that state bodies are serving the nation and its people, not the people in charge of the deals.

There is now a struggle to serve the Thai people with 3G - or maybe more essential, a struggle over such income. 3G deals between state and private telecom have been done. Suddenly without any public warning deals between TOT and AIS and CAT and True popped up in the newspapers. Secret, illegal deals from the closet? Or fully transparent and legal deals satisfying the rules and standard of a democracy? Will we know?

CAT, from now both a state regulator and part of the 3G game, seems to do everything they can to delay Dtac's commercial 3G participation. Do they not know the rules of a democracy? As a participant in 3G CAT can no longer operate as a regulator of the 3G market. Within a democracy this is called a conflict of interest, a very serious legal issue. Not so in Thailand?

Thailand is waiting for the NBTC, a regulator whose formation has been delayed over and over. What exactly are the issues about the last appointed members of NBTC? Who are benefiting from all the 3G delays? And are those behind the delays the same who benefits from them? Dear newspaper, help us to follow the "benefits". How surprised will you be if a new 3G tycoon suddenly pops up, maybe a former master of telecoms? If Thailand has a functional democracy, things will be kind of predictable, if not - everything can happen.

A Johnsen

Chon Buri