CAT Telecom says the amount of the fine Huawei Technologies should pay for late delivery of the expanded CDMA mobile-phone network will be up to the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG).

Huawei has been seeking a 50% reduction in the fine, saying that unrest in the country's southernmost provinces held up completion of the work last year. The previous military-appointed government agreed with the Chinese equipment supplier's position.

The CAT board is scheduled to meet on Aug 27 to vote on sending the dispute to the OAG, said Jirayu Roongsrithong, a senior executive vice-president of the state telecom enterprise.

Under the original contract, Huawei had to deliver the second phase of the CDMA network in a form ready for use by Jan 26, 2007, but it could not meet the deadline. Final delivery did not take place until Jan 26 this year.

According to Mr Jirayu, a ruling from the OAG on the amount of the fine is unlikely to take much time.

''The contract states the penalty is 90 million baht a day for late delivery, which means Huawei could face up to a 30-billion-baht charge,'' said Mr Jirayu. ''However, the final amount of the fine needs legal support.''

The entire CDMA expansion project was valued at 7.2 billion baht.

The country's CDMA service is now divided into two parts. The first network covering 25 central provinces including Bangkok is owned by BFKT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Telecom, and marketed by Hutch. BFKT has invested about 40 billion baht in the network.

The second network worth 7.2 billion baht is owned and operated by CAT and covers 51 provinces, where Huawei is installing 1,600 base stations. The first phase covering 800 stations was delivered to CAT early last year.

CAT is planning to merge the CDMA services and is now negotiating to buy the Hutch network.

Source:bangkokpost