Advanced Info Service (AIS) CEO Somprasong Boonyachai yesterday denied allegations the company had profited from the alleged corruption of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

In a bid to salvage the company's image, Somprasong told a news conference that the allegations made by the graft-busting Assets Examination Committee (AEC) had no factual basis. He said they are the "personal beliefs" of investigators and the company is considering legal action.

"Minor shareholders are calling up to ask what the AIS did wrong," Somprasong said. AIS is a subsidiary of Shin Corp, which was founded by the family of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Shin Corp stake was sold to Singapore's investment arm Temasek Holdings.

Somprasong reiterated that AIS reaped no benefit from the Thaksin government's excise tax moves for telecom companies - a charge laid by the AEC, which said those polices enabled Thaksin to become unusually wealthy.

The Thaksin government permitted telecom service operators to deduct taxes paid to the Excise Department from revenues before calculating what they paid concession owners TOT and CAT Telecom. Excise tax was 11 per cent for cellular operators and 2 per cent for fixed lines. This reduced what TOT and CAT Telecom earned from those concessions.

The Surayud Chulanont Cabinet has since removed excise taxes for telecommunications. "We gained nothing from that calculation. AIS was not the only telecom company subject to excise tax," Somprasong said, adding AIS would not explain this to the AEC as it has not been summoned by the investigating body.

He also denied the allegation that AIS shareholders profited from the 2001 reduction of concession fee paid to TOT for prepaid users.

The AEC has claimed Thaksin further enriched himself by introducing this policy.

Somprasong said AIS asked TOT to ease its prepaid fees after TOT had reduced the access charge for competitor Total Access Communication, or DTAC.

TOT changed the DTAC fee to Bt200 a month per user from 18 per cent of total revenues a month.

In all, the AIS concession was amended seven times, Somprasong said.

The most controversial one was in May 2001, when TOT slashed the prepaid-revenue share it took from the operator from 25 per cent to 20 per cent. The change was effective for the life of the AIS concession.

"The concession fee we pay TOT totals more than our own profit. Total concession fees paid over the life of the contract as at April this year were Bt85.985 billion," he said.

"Last year we paid Bt20 billion while our net profit was Bt16 billion," Somprasong added.

The AIS CEO defended all concession amendments and said they were legally binding. He said TOT's concession negotiation committee has no authority to revise the company's concession amendment.

Earlier, the Council of State had ruled on May 18 that all amendments to the concession terms of all four cellular service operators - AIS, DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone - were in contravention of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act of 1992.

However, the amendments remain legally binding, it added.

The Act demands that any public-private joint venture receive Cabinet approval if its total value exceeds Bt1 billion.

The ruling suggested that TOT and CAT form committees to negotiate with their concession holders. If they choose to invalidate the amendments, they will have to seek Cabinet approval.

The Act allows formation of such committees to ensure that concessionaires comply with contracts and report any inconsistencies to the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation