Somprasong surprised at Shin stock-purchase rumour

In an interview early this week, he said it was up to the major shareholders to decide whether to sell their Shin stock. If someone asked him to contact the shareholders about a Shin share purchase, he would do so.

"But so far, no one has approached me to do so," he said.

Foreign ownership of telecom companies has become a hot issue again in the last month, with the first public hearing on the National Telecommunications Commission's (NTC) 3G spectrum-licence auction conditions.

Shin is a major shareholder of Advanced Info Service (AIS). Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings - both subsidiaries of Singapore's state investment arm Temasek Holdings - own a combined 96 per cent of Shin.

AIS and other local private cellular operators are keen to bid for the 2.1GHz spectrum licences of the NTC to develop 3G wireless-broadband services.

At the first hearing, some participants asked the NTC to examine carefully the shareholding structures of prospective bidders, out of concern that they might not comply with the Foreign Business Act and the Telecom Business Act.

Both laws cap foreign shareholding in local telecom operators at 49 per cent.

Somprasong said every part of the auction should proceed in accordance with the law.

"But we should not immediately judge those who win 3G licences as wrongdoers. You have to see whether they do something against the laws and regulations, after they get the licences. Just like you win in an auction to buy a car. How can you become a wrongdoer just by winning? You'll be a wrongdoer only in the event that you use the car to carry illegal products," he added.

TOT is concerned the private mobile concessions that win the licences will migrate their subscribers from the concessions to the 3G licences to save regulatory costs, but at the state concession owners' expense.

Somprasong said AIS had paid more than Bt100 billion in concession fees to TOT since its concession began in 1990, and had already transferred assets worth over Bt120 billion to the state agency. AIS's concession ends in 2015.

TOT granted the concession to AIS on the build-transfer-operate basis.

On the TOT's concern that AIS would migrate customers to the 3G licence, he added that it was natural for customers to rush to what they consider to be a better service, just as when they left the analogue cellular service for the digital one.

In a 3G licence-related matter, Somprasong said it was acceptable if the auction were to be postponed for a few weeks, during which time the NTC could clear up all public doubt and criticism about the auction conditions.

"It's good if you can completely clear all doubts, so that no one gossips that the auction plan is not transparent," he added.

True Corp has opposed the auction method, arguing it would favour cash-rich telecom operators at the expense of the smaller ones.

Meanwhile, Somprasong said Shin expected to launch a new media business next year to complement its existing wireless and content businesses.

He declined to elaborate, but said the group had conducted a study on the new business.