Deputy Secretary-General of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Suthisak Tantayothin confirmed that, for the time being, customers of mobile phone services provided by True and Dtac will not be affected, following an announcement of a potential merger between the two telecom giants.
Mr. Sutthisak added that the Trade Competition Commission (TCC) should step in in examining the potential merger, as they did in the case of the takeover of the Tesco Lotus retail chain in Thailand and Malaysia by the CP Group.
Thailand’s telecom regulator has no authority to interfere with ongoing talks between Norway’s Telenor and Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, because it is at the stage of due diligence and discussions over shares swaps, said the NBTC Deputy on Tuesday.
He explained that the current talks are not directly between the two telecom license holders, Dtac TriNet (DTN) and True Move H Universal Communication (TUC). In fact, the talks are between their two holding companies Telenor and CP Group which, at this stage, fall under the jurisdiction of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), he said.
The holding companies are not the telecom license holders and, therefore, the NBTC has no right to intervene at this stage, said Sutthisak, adding that, if or when the process involves the two license holders, TUC and DTN, then they will have to comply with NBTC regulations.
At the appropriate time, the NBTC will determine whether any merger between licence holders will affect fair market competition, with the option to approve or disapprove of the deal, he added.
