ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said late last week that he had his personal legal team examine some issues four weeks ago, though he does not consider them serious.

One issue is ShinSat's lack of a backup for the broadband satellite iPSTAR, he said. The ShinSat concession, granted by the ministry, mandates that all its satellites must each have one reserve.

ShinSat owns Thaicom 1, 2, 5 and iPSTAR. Last year it disconnected Thaicom 3 due to serious glitches.

According to ShinSat's concession contract, the backup satellite for Thaicom 1 is Thaicom 2 and that for Thaicom 3 is Thaicom 4, better known as iPSTAR. The company built Thaicom 5 to replace Thaicom 3.

Sitthichai reportedly doubts that iPSTAR could be considered as a backup satellite for Thaicom 3, given that the former is a broadband satellite and the latter is a conventional broadcast satellite.

ShinSat is working on building Thaicom 6 and will decide by the end of the year whether it will be a broadcast or broadband satellite.

ShinSat is 41.34 per cent owned by Shin Corp, founded by the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Another issue under Sitthichai's focus is whether ShinSat neglected to bring into the country the insurance claim refund from the Thaicom 3 glitch, before using it to pay for the construction of Thaicom 5.

Sitthichai is examining whether there are any ministerial regulations governing the issue.

The last matter is that the ICT Ministry in the past amended ShinSat's concession to allow Shin Corp to reduce its stake in the satellite firm to the minimum 40 per cent, from 51 per cent. This raises public questions as to whether it was done to pave the way for foreign investors to move on Shin and its subsidiaries without breaching the laws governing foreign shareholding in local firms.

ShinSat's original concession required Shin to maintain a stake in ShinSat of at least 51 per cent for the whole concession period of 30 years. In 2005, ShinSat raised capital through a public share offering, which diluted Shin's stake to 41.56 per cent that year.

The foreign business law and the telecommunications law both cap the foreign shareholding in local telecom firms at 49 per cent.

Sitthichai said that ShinSat could correct the issues itself if the cases were not serious. However, should the cases turn out to have damaged the country, he will consult with the Council of State over how to handle them.

The ICT minister recently asked the Council of State to examine all telecom concessions of TOT and CAT Telecom to see whether they comply with the relevant laws.

It is his policy to promote a level playing field in the sector, he said.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation