The long-running dispute between TOT Plc and CAT Telecom over Thai Mobile has been tentatively settled as TOT agreed yesterday to purchase CAT's shareholding for 2.4 billion baht as proposed.

But the payment would be made on an installment basis for 12 years without interest. CAT was seeking a shorter payment period.

TOT earlier insisted it would pay only 1.9 billion baht for CAT's 42% shareholding but the latter believed its stake is worth 2.4 billion baht.

The moribund cellular firm, 58:42 owned by the two state telecom enterprises has accumulated nearly seven billion baht in debt. Of total debts, four billion baht are owed to TOT.

Thai Mobile holds the rights to valuable 3G bandwidth but has little else. After six years in business it has fewer than 60,000 customers, most of them civil servants and state enterprise staff.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of the "super board" of both state enterprises.

Mun Patanotai, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) minister, said TOT would acquire the shareholding from CAT and also assume the debts of seven billion baht.

TOT asked to pay CAT 200 million baht a year with no interest, while CAT wanted a five-year payment schedule.

Mr Mun said the ministry would ask the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to decide which agency would be responsible for transfer taxes and work out the formal asset-transfer process.

The agreement would be submitted to the boards of each state enterprise for approval this week, he said.

Mr Mun admitted that the CAT board could face pressure from staff and the union for accepting a "cheap price" for Thai Mobile. "The ICT ministry will give both agencies another 10 days to settle the agreement," he said.

Mr Mun also said that both TOT and CAT Telecom were no longer in a push-and-pull game based on the fact that the NTC was on the verge of issuing third-generation (3G) licences.

"If the two state enterprises cannot act now on 3G [as monopoly players], they will have no future at all in the near future," he said.

Source:bangkokpost