The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry has urged state agencies under its oversight to file complaints about damage to the state caused by past telecom deals, so it can forward cases to the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) for further investigation.

A ministry source said ICT minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom discussed the matter with the AEC yesterday, marking yet another attempt by the Surayud government to nail down corruption scandals involving previous governments, particularly the Thaksin administration.

Sitthichai declined to reveal what he discussed with the AEC, saying he would make an official announcement in the next few days.

However, the source said Sitthichai and the AEC discussed past amendments to telecom concession agreements made before or during the term of the Thaksin government that have allegedly caused damage to the national interest. The amendments discussed included one to the concession between TOT and Advanced Info Service (AIS).

There have been seven amendments to AIS concessions, the fourth of which, made in September 1996, extended the concession period from 20 years to 25.

Another major amendment was made in 2001, when TOT allowed AIS to change the share of its prepaid phone revenues paid to TOT to a flat rate of 20 per cent a month for the rest of its concession period, from the original 25 per cent.

TOT granted the concession to AIS, which is the flagship company of Shin Corp, in 1990.

Last November, an adviser to the former House Telecommunications Committee, Chianchuang Kalayanamitr, asked the AEC to investigate a revision of the revenue-sharing deal between TOT and AIS, which has allegedly cost the country Bt83.5 billion in damages.

Under the original concession, AIS had to share its prepaid revenues with TOT at incremental rates, starting at 20 per cent, then moving to 25 per cent and later 30 per cent.

The ministry source said Sitthichai and the AEC also discussed amendments to the CAT Telecom concession of Total Access Communication (DTAC), which had resulted in the concession being extended from 22 years to 27.

In a related matter, Sitthichai will ask the Cabinet next Tuesday to revoke a Thaksin Cabinet resolution on telecom excise. He will submit the case to a screening panel this Thursday.

Through a Cabinet resolution of February 2003, the Thaksin government allowed all private telecom operators to deduct excise tax payments from their concession fees. The fees minus the excise payments were then paid to their state concession owners: TOT or CAT Telecom.

The excise taxes paid by cellular and fixed-line operators amounted to 10 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, out of their concession fees.

This led to a decline in the concession revenues of TOT and CAT.

If the excise deduction measure is terminated, all telecom operators will return to paying full concession fees to TOT and CAT, plus the additional excise to the government.

TOT owns the concessions of True Corp, TT&T and AIS, while CAT owns the concessions of DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone.

Sitthichai said the excise deduction measure resulted in TOT and CAT suffering damages of Bt23.903 billion and Bt15.249 billion, respectively, from 2003-05.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation