The protracted dispute over telecom access charges is nearing a climax with a decision by CAT Telecom to pay access charges to Thailand's state-run telecom agency TOT Plc and in turn sue True Move and DTAC, the two mobile operators that hold CAT concessions.
CAT intends to demand 4.8 billion baht (US$138 million) from the pair as compensation for the money it intends to pay TOT.
DTAC and True move stopped paying network access charges to TOT in November last year, arguing that the new interconnection rates approved by the National Telecommunications Commission should take precedence.
TOT claims it is owed 6 billion baht (US$173.4 million) and CAT, its sibling state enterprise, has agreed to pay a first installment of 2.4 billion baht (US$69.4 million) on the mobile operators' behalf.
But a TOT executive said the payment would not be in cash. Instead, CAT would transfer its 42 percent equity stake in Thai Mobile, the struggling cellular joint venture between TOT and CAT. The stake was valued at 2.4 billion baht (US$69.4 million).
TOT had earlier offered to buy the shares to make TOT the sole owner of in the hope of reviving the business, which has 6 billion baht (US$173 million) in debts.
The executive, who asked not to be named, said both telecom enterprises had agreed on the idea, as had the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.
Now the ministry has given CAT the green light to take DTAC and True move to the Civil Court. Under the terms of the original concessions, CAT can seek compensation worth double what it has to pay for access charges.
TOT, meanwhile, continues to insist that it should be allowed to collect access charges for the mobile operators' use of its network. The executive said interconnection charges were an entirely separate issue.
TOT earned about 14 billion baht (US$428 million) last year from access charges and is reluctant to switch to the interconnection system because it believes it will make less money. Interconnection charges are the amounts operators charge each other for handling calls across different networks.
The three major cellular operators--Advanced Info Service, DTAC and True Move--earlier signed interconnection charge agreements. DTAC and True Move are collecting the fees from each other but AIS has not done so because it fears a lawsuit for breaching the concession it holds from TOT.
Sigve Brekke, the chief executive of DTAC, disputed CAT's contention that it is entitled to compensation at twice the amount of outstanding charges. "I'm 100 percent confident [in our case]. We've never seen any statement that identified a double fine,'' he said.
Brekke said that DTAC, which was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand last week, had provided calculations of both access and interconnection charges in its first-quarter financial statement, and the results were about the same.
''We don't care what TOT is doing,'' he said. ''We're sure about the access charge case following a study by our legal team, which coincides with a recent decision by the NTC to order TOT to enter into talks with DTAC for an interconnection agreement.''
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