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Published on February 6, 2008

Top-level changes are expected to take place at state-controlled TOT and Thai Airways International (THAI) shortly after the first Samak Sundaravej Cabinet takes office.

At THAI, rumours abound that incumbent president Apinan Sumanaseni may tender his resignation dur-ing a board of directors' meeting tomorrow, in order to open the way for the new government to make changes.

However, Apinan yesterday told The Nation he had no plans to quit but said the board might resign so that the new government could make new appointments.

A source close to incoming Transport Minister Santi Prompun said the new government would not make any hasty decisions on top-level management changes at state-controlled enterprises under the ministry's supervision.

"We'll give all of the incumbent chief executives at least a month to work before we consider any major changes," said the source.

Apinan was named THAI president in 2006 with the backing of Air Force Commander-in-Chief Chalit Pukphasuk, who joined the disbanded Council for National Security in overthrowing the previous Thaksin Shinawatra government on September 19, 2006.

Given the return of former prime minister Thaksin's allies in the incoming government, sources said a top-level management change at THAI could not be ruled out.

However, sources said internal politics at the national carrier are also a key factor and that there had been increased pressure on the incumbent president following a recent revamp of senior management.

Meanwhile, TOT chairman Saprang Kalayanamitr yesterday also said the state agency's board of directors had to prepare to resign after completing its performance report.

"We'll resign to show our manners but not right now, pending the completion of our 'will', or the performance report. You know we've a lot of enemies waiting to assault us," Saprang said.

Saprang assumed his post at TOT last February.

The TOT board has al-ready approved the company's turnaround plan involving job cuts and the spending of Bt63 billion to roll out a cutting-edge network from 2007-10.

Early last year, TOT's labour union asked the Information and Communi-cations Technology Ministry to sack its board, citing the board's lack of management experience.

Meanwhile, the board of CAT Telecom presented its performance report to its management yesterday.

Somboon Sapsarn, head of CAT's labour union, said the board had shown no outstanding performance, due to a lack of progress on many key projects.

The state agency has yet to finish talking with Hong Kong telecom giant Hutchi-son Telecom on a possible collaboration to market cellular service via their two separate networks.

CAT has its own Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1-x cellular network in 51 provinces, while Hutchison-CAT, a joint venture of CAT and the Hong Kong telecom giant, has operated a similar network in 25 provinces.

Excluding its concession revenue, CAT posted a net loss of Bt400 million last year.

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