The board of state-owned CAT Telecom approved a big year-end bonus for its employees, after taking in revenue of 43.31 billion baht ($1.41 billion) and a profit of 11,325 million for the first eleven months of the year.
However, that figure includes revenue share from concessionaires Dtac, DPC and TrueMove. DPC and TrueMove’s concessions end in September 2013 while Dtac’s concession revenue will be forwarded to the exchequer from October next year, which means that the state telco has only one more year to turn around its loss-making business.
Meanwhile, 166 days have passed since negotiations started over the illegal TrueMove H 850-MHz 3G deal with no sanctions handed down.
Back in June, the national telecommunications and broadcasting committee (NBTC) ruled that the deal - whereby CAT was nothing but a middleman, outsourcing its network to True and selling airtime to True as an MVNO - breached the frequency allocation act and the telecom business act. NBTC ordered CAT and True to amend their agreement or face revocation of their licences.
But it was not until 12 December that CAT Telecom finally asked the council of state, the government lawyer, for advice as to whether the concession falls under the public-private joint investment act or not. This move will take many more months before a decision is made. CAT has also been accused of breaking that act by approving the TrueMove H deal without cabinet approval
CAT CEO Kittisak Sriprasert said only that the state owned company could not act without first seeking proper legal advice.
Any further delay is probably only of academic interest now that TrueMove has successfully obtained a 2.1-GHz 3G licence, though its CEO has indicated that it wants both 850 and 2.1-GHz frequencies.
Elsewhere, Dtac has announced a three-year 2.1-GHz 3G investment plan worth $815 million (25 billion baht).