InTouch’s Somprasong content with his legacy

 

Somprasong retired from the position in December and was appointed adviser to the CEO on January 1 on a one-year term. He is still chairman of InTouch’s executive committee. 

He said the first significant bid was in 1992 when Shinawatra Computer, now known as InTouch, bid for a TOT concession to operate one million fixed-line telephone numbers in the provinces. 

Shin proposed to share 33.7 per cent of gross annual revenue from the concession to TOT but TT&T won the bid after offering an annual revenue share of 43.1 per cent to the state agency. 

Now that mobile phones have replaced fixed-line telephones as the most popular means of communications, fixed-line telephone operators have seen their revenue declining.

The second significant bid was the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s (NBTC) auction of 24 terrestrial digital TV broadcasting licences in late 2013. 

InTouch targeted a licence in the variety programme category in standard definition but pulled out during the bid after believing that the price was too high. The final price was around Bt1 billion, which was lower than the level the InTouch adviser for the bid had recommended. 

However, InTouch decided to stop bidding on the view that it might be difficult for a new player to compete against existing analogue players, who could win the licences. 

Currently some digital TV broadcasters have experienced intense competition in the market. 

They blamed the NBTC for failing to create a favourable landscape to help them survive the bumpy transition from the analogue broadcasting era to the digital one. 

The third most significant bid was when InTouch flagship Advanced Info Service decided to stop raising the price in last month’s bid for a 900MHz licence. AIS’s final price was Bt75.98 billion.

“I’m confident that we made the right decision [to stop bidding]. During the bid, I convinced all of our team members in the bidding room that we must bid on rationale, not emotional. I thought that the appropriate licence price was Bt35 billion,” he said. 

“Once the price exceeded that level, we used rationale in every round we raised the price higher.

“The decision to stop bidding was the consensus of everyone in the bidding room – we didn’t have to vote on this.” 

True Corp and Jasmine International each won a 900MHz licence by proposing Bt76.3 billion and Bt75.6 billion, respectively. Both have yet to pay the first instalment of the licence upfront fee of over Bt8 billion to NBTC and hand over the bank guarantee for the remaining upfront fee. 

They have to pay the first instalment and hand over the bank guarantee by March 21.

Industry observers believe the companies may have paid too much for licences. 

But True CEO Suphachai Chearavanont recently said that the money paid was worth winning a 900MHz licence, as it would enable the company to achieve higher growth.

The low-band 900MHz is also technically suitable for the company’s network expansion in the provinces, Suphachai said.

Shortly after winning the licence, JAS insisted that it had the financial ability to develop a 4G service on the spectrum. It said that it had already secured strong commitments from banks and equipment vendors. 

However, it is rumoured that JAS’s major funding sources declined to support the company.

Somprasong likened his time at InTouch to a marathon, as the company has experienced several obstacles along the way.

Now at his adviser’s post, he has more time to spare, so he is learning to fly small aircraft – a dream he has held since he was an airforce official. The course has 35 students and he is the oldest but he passed the fitness test to join the class. 

“Now my life has 7,000 days left, given the average human life is 74 years. I hope I can achieve all goals during the remaining period,” he said.