Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) has ordered state-owned telco CAT Telecom to pay less for Hutchinson Telecommunications International (HTI)’s CDMA assets.
According to local newspaper The Nation, the Ministry has said…
Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) has ordered state-owned telco CAT Telecom to pay less for Hutchinson Telecommunications International (HTI)’s CDMA assets.
According to local newspaper The Nation, the Ministry has said CAT should pay Bt4bn (US$130m) instead of Bt7.2bn (US$235m).
ICT Minister Chuti Krairiksh was quoted as saying that it was not necessary for CAT to pay such a high price for the network and should instead save money for other projects as part of the government’s plan to promote CAT and TOT as the national network providers.
Last April, the government approved CAT Telecom’s plan to take complete ownership of Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia (HCWM), its JV with HTI. CAT was expected to pay around Bt7.2bn for the 74% held by HTI. The network covers 25 provinces, including the Bangkok area.
At the time of the approval, CAT president Jirayuth Roongsrithong was quoted saying that the deal would enable CAT to generate Bt4bn in revenues in the first year of operations and add 1.5 million subscribers to its name.
In a separate story, The Thai Supreme Administrative Court last week upheld the suspension of the 3G licence auction, following a request from CAT and TOT. CAT had applied to the Supreme Administrative Court to stop the process, claiming that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) did not have the authority to award licences.
CAT and TOT also argued that the 3G auction could impact their revenues. Under existing concessions, operators pay about 25-30% of their revenue to state-owned companies. This would compare to 6% under the new 3G concessions to be awarded.
