Acting president Chamras Tantreesukhon said yesterday the company's board had approved the plan in principle.

The planned subsidiaries will be TOT's call-centre, home-solution, content-provider and e-marketplace services. Initially, TOT will continue to own 100 per cent of each one. But Chamras said that at a later stage, the four new companies might look for strategic partners to enhance their competitiveness.

"We'll propose the final details of establishing the call-centre subsidiary, along with planned staff numbers, to the board in the next two weeks. Details for creating the other three will follow. The establishment all four is expected to be finished by the end of this year," he said. All of them should be taking in revenues by next year's third quarter.

Chamras said the four subsidiaries would each have its own clear management - unlike the present situation in which the four units answer to many senior executives, each of whom must also oversee other units.

TOT has only one subsidiary, cellular operator Thai Mobile.

The TOT board also endorsed in principle the state agency's plan to hire global telecom operator BT to advise it on the roll-out of its third-generation (3G) network across the country.

The 3G network will enable TOT to offer data, voice and multimedia services over mobile phones. BT will also advise TOT on the development of these services. The consulting deal is worth Bt30 million.

However, the TOT board did not discuss the planned merger of TOT with CAT Telecom Plc yesterday.

Late last month, TOT announced it would change its focus by concentrating more on providing innovative services, broadband and network leasing to boost its profits, following a continuing fall in revenues from its fixed-line telephone services.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation