Advanced Info Service, the flagship unit of Shin Corp, has ordered its risk-management team to prepare for possible impacts on its business in response to the Supreme Court's scheduled ruling in the assets-seizure case of ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on February 26.
An AIS source yesterday said without elaboration that the company's management had instructed the team to prepare for a number of scenarios.
Among the charges against the ex-premier by state prosecutors is he abused his political power while PM to benefit Shin's telecom empire.
The main charge is the 2001 amendment of AIS's concession by its concession-owner, TOT, to allow AIS to reduce the share of its prepaid phone revenue paid to TOT to a flat rate of 20 per cent for the rest of its life, from the original 25 per cent.
One telecom analyst said it was doubtful the government - should it wish to do so - would simply be able to take AIS's amended concession back to the original one in the event Thaksin was found guilty.
If it were to do so, however, AIS could ask the government to do the same with the amended concessions of other private cellular concessionaires, in order to show fair treatment, the analyst said.
Major private telecom operators entered into concession amendments with their state concession owners many times after 1990, and some of these were undertaken without Cabinet approval. The changes ranged from adjustments to their concession revenue through to the extension of concession periods.
Late last year, the Finance Ministry's State Enterprise Policy Office disclosed that these amendments - deemed unlawful, as they had not received Cabinet approval - had cost TOT a cumulative Bt87 billion and CAT Telecom more than Bt50 billion.
The council of economic ministers last December asked the ministry and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry to examine the effects of the unlawful amendments.
It also advised the ICT Ministry to revoke the amendments having the greatest impact on state revenue.
Shinawatra family members disposed of their combined 49-per-cent stake in Shin for Bt73 billion to a group led by Singapore's state investment arm, Temasek Holdings, in January 2006.
Shin currently owns 42.65 per cent of AIS and 41.14 per cent of satellite operator Thaicom. Temasek's Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings jointly own more than 96 per cent of Shin.
The share price of Shin yesterday closed at Bt26.25, unchanged from the day before. AIS's price closed at Bt83, up 0.91 per cent, while that of Thaicom closed at Bt6.85, up 3.01 per cent.
In a separate matter, the same AIS source said Temasek had hinted to Shin that Shin should pay an extra dividend for last year's operations.
A telecom analyst said although the National Telecommunications Commission's plan to auction 2.1-gigahertz third-generation spectrum licences had been delayed - meaning no new major catalyst for the telecom sector - the situation was not necessarily all negative.
Without the urgent need for the telecom operators to roll out 2.1GHz-3G networks, they can keep their capital expenditure at minimal levels, and there is potential for AIS and Total Access Communication to pay special dividends, the analyst said.
