"They can make a request to the ministry to consider the matter if they feel that their concessions are the cause of unfair competition against licensees of the national telecom regulator," ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said yesterday.

However, industry observers wondered if the minister had thoroughly studied the possible legal or financial impact of his plan to cancel the concessions for the private telecom operators, such as the possible decline in the concession fees to the state concession owners, TOT and CAT Telecom.

Last year TOT gained Bt18 billion in concession fees, while CAT's concession fees accounted for 33 per cent of its revenue of Bt30 billion.

"The cancellation of the concessions will financially affect TOT and CAT, but not that much as neither is intended to be a mainly profit-making organisation," Sitthichai said.

He added that since the country already has the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and with the new regulations and NTC licensees, all telecom operators should be given an opportunity to compete under the new rules on a fair basis.

Supot Tiarawut, head for corporate strategy at TT&T, which operates a fixed-line telephone business under a TOT concession, said he would discuss the matter with the minister soon. TT&T's subsidiary Triple T Broadband holds an NTC licence for voice and data communication services.

TT&T has paid as much as 43 per cent of voice revenue and 18 per cent of data revenue in concession fees to TOT.

Sitthichai said he would also consider the possible impact on existing subscribers of the private concessionaires after any cancellation of their concessions. He said subscribers were unlikely to be affected by the policy.

"For example, if A has a concession and its subsidiary B has a licence, A might opt to transfer its subscribers to B after the cancellation of A's concession," he said.

Past governments initiated amendments to the private telecom operators' concession contracts to enable the private concessionaires to compete on the same footing as the NTC licensees, but the attempt failed and the initiative faded following public opposition at the time that the move would favour some cellular operators associated with the government.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family sold off all interest in Shin Corp to the Singapore state investment arm Temasek Holding in January. Shin is the parent of Advanced Info Service, the leading cellular firm, which has operated under a TOT concession.

Sitthichai said he had yet to discuss with the NTC a policy to level out the concessions if requested by the private telecom operators, but added that the NTC also had to collaborate and listen to the government's policy, even though it is an independent body.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation