Thai government urges merger of state telcos

BANGKOK – The Thai government will push for the merger of the country’s state-owned domestic and international telecoms operators after they are registered as public companies, a report said.

Transport and Communications Minister Wan Muhammad Noor Matha told the Business Day such a merger would strengthen network capacity as well as prevent overlapping investments for Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) and Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT).

"The Finance Ministry would like TOT and CAT to merge following their registration as public companies because it was the best approach for raising the share value of the new firm that is planning to go public by this October," the minister was quoted as saying.

There were earlier reports the government wanted the two to merge prior to their privatization.

The government has endorsed the privatization plan of TOT, which provides domestic telecoms services.

TOT earlier had said it would list on the bourse by April, but was forced to postpone due to uncertainty over the status of existing tie-ups with private operators.

CAT, which provides international call services, is to become CAT Telecommunications.

TOT’s privatization plans, which are a cornerstone of government economic policy, have been hampered by slow progress in liberalizing the sector and establishing an independent regulator.