The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will submit all private telecom concession contracts to the Council of State within a couple of weeks to examine if they comply with the relevant investment laws.

ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, however, gave an assurance  that consumers would not be affected if there were no amendments in the contracts.

He added that he had to seek the opinion of the Council of State about all concession contracts after finding that the concession contracts granted by CAT Telecom to Digital Phone (DPC) and True Move could have violated the 1992 joint state-private investment regulations.

The regulations require all joint state-private investment projects to go through a feasibility study and Cabinet's approval if their value exceeds Bt1 billion.

Sitthichai said that both concessions did not win the Cabinet's approval. Athueck Asvanund, vice chairman of True Corp, said yesterday that Charoen Pokphand (CP) consulted about the matter with CAT since the day CP took over Wireless Communication Services (WCS), which was later renamed True Move.

He added that CAT stated that the WCS concession did not need to go through the 1992 regulations because it is part of the existing concession of Total Access Communication (DTAC) granted by CAT in 1990.

CAT owns the 1800 MHz spectrum which was given as a concession to DTAC. Part of the spectrum was returned to CAT, which was later given as a concession to DPC and WCS in 1996.

CP is the parent of True, which, in turn, is the parent of True Move.

Athueck asked which party would compensate True Move if the concession was affected by the ministry's move.

"And who'll want to jointly invest with the state agencies when one day you tell private operators that their concessions are illegal after you had granted them the concessions?" he added.

True Move and DPC have almost six million and a few hundred thousand subscribers, respectively. DPC is the cellular subsidiary of Advanced Info Service.

Sitthichai said that after the complete examination of the Council of State, a panel comprising representatives of the ministry and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont would be formed to oversee all the concessions.

Last week Sitthichai told the state concession owners TOT and CAT Telecom to probe all private concession contracts to see if they violate the relevant laws as part of his policy of rectifying the sector. His focus is on whether past amendments of the concession contracts were approved by the Cabinet.

Recently, CAT also consulted with the Council of State over whether its awarding of a joint service marketing deal to Hutchison-CAT complied with the regulations. The Council has yet to make a ruling.

Hutchison-CAT, a joint venture of CAT and Hong Kong's telecom giant Hutchison Telecom, has marketed a cellular service in 25 provinces. It has leased the network from BFKT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom, to provide the service.