Published on June 24, 2005

The acting president of CAT Telecom will meet with board chairman Wisudhi Srisuphan today, to seek a clear direction for plans to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Acting president Phisal Jorphochaudom said he would also ask the board to discuss the issue with the government.

In mid-May, the Finance Ministry, which owns CAT and TOT Corp, expressed interest only in TOT trading shares by the third quarter and said that CAT was not being considered.

A ministry source said recently that the idea was to turn CAT into a TOT subsidiary, so the two would not have to compete against each other.

Such a lack of a clear-cut policy is reportedly what caused CAT chief financial officer Duangporn Termwattana to resign early this month.

Phisal said the state agency had yet to approve her resignation, but the process of recruiting her replacement was expected start soon.

The first blow to CAT’s listing aspirations was the May 12 decision by its board to remove company president Witit Sujjapong by referring to a Council of State opinion that his appointment had been improper.

The council ruled that candidates for the CAT’s top post must not have held an interest in any telecom company that had had business relations with CAT in the previous three years, in accordance with conditions set by the Finance Ministry.

In December 2003, Witit was still managing director of Internet-related company Surf Excel, which had had dealings with CAT before he resigned that month to campaign for the CAT post.

After Witit’s removal, the CAT board postponed its listing from next quarter to late this year.

The CAT source said the board had already set up a panel to recruit a chief executive, but it had yet to work out qualification criteria.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

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