Satellite operator Thaicom said it was open to holding talks with the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to look for ways out of the problem related to its concession contract.
So far, though, the ministry has not officially approached Thaicom about the issue, the company's CEO Arak Choltanont said yesterday.
He also confirmed that Thaicom had complied with all the relevant regulations and concession terms.
Thaicom has often said that it would seek a legal channel to defend its business should the government accuse it of failing to comply with the concession.
He said he personally believed the company and the ministry might not need to take the concession dispute to an arbitration panel, but could sort out the differences through negotiation.
A state panel - established under Section 22 of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act - examining the concession contract concluded on Wednesday that Thaicom should comply with certain requirements. The ICT ministry will have its legal team spend five days cross-checking the panel's conclusion before submitting its final report for the Cabinet's consideration.
Arak, however, said the committee's conclusion should not be deemed as a ruling because no state agency had officially told Thaicom that it was doing anything wrong.
The committee concluded that Thaicom's broadband satellite iPSTAR was not a back-up satellite for Thaicom3 and suggested that it launch a new satellite to serve as back-up.
It should also return the US$6.7 million (Bt217.28 million) it took as insurance claims for Thaicom 3 sustaining damages in orbit back to the ICT ministry.
In addition, its parent Shin Corp should raise its stake in Thaicom back to 51 per cent from the present 40 per cent.
Arak said the problems about the back-up satellite were caused by a difference in interpretation.
The company regards iPSTAR or Thaicom 4 as a back-up satellite of Thaicom 3, and every satellite launch has been done with the ministry's consent.
He said that if the ministry wanted Thaicom to launch a new satellite, it would have to discuss customer demands first and determine if the new satellite is the main or a back-up satellite. He added that Thaicom was financially ready to launch another satellite.
Somkiat Tangkitvanit, vice president of Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), hopes the ministry would handle this case carefully to avoid adversely affecting the confidence of local and foreign investors.
Meanwhile, the outcome of the Section 22 committee is in line with the Supreme Court's February 26 ruling in the asset-seizure case against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, involving his abuse of power to benefit his family's telecom empire - Shin, Advanced Info Service and Thaicom.
The ruling prompted the ICT Ministry to set up two Section 22 committees, one to examine past amendments to Thaicom's concession and the other revisions to concessions in connection with the ruling. As part of the abuse-of-power case against Thaksin, the court cited that members of his cabinet had allowed Thaicom to change the terms of the concession contract to launch iPSTAR as its main satellite rather than launch a back-up satellite for Thaicom 3 as stipulated in the contract.
The concession contract of Shin Satellite, as Thaicom was previously known, was amended in October 2004, reducing Shin's minimum shareholding in Thaicom from 51 per cent to the present 40 per cent.
This effectively reduced Shin's investment burden, while passing the risks on to smaller shareholders.
Shin Satellite violated its concession contract when it used the $6.7 million - paid by insurance companies when Thaicom 3 was damaged - to pay for satellite-rental charges instead of remitting the amount to the Transport Ministry, which was the satellite's concession owner at the time.
Thaicom was founded in 1991 and granted a 30-year Build-Transfer-Operate concession by the Transport Ministry.
The concession, which expires in 2021, now belongs to the ICT Ministry.