House panel urges Prayut to block True-DTAC merger
A special House committee has asked Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to put the brakes on the planned merger of telecom operators True Corporation and Total Access Communication (DTAC).
Anudit Nakhonthap, chairman of the ad hoc House panel considering the possible impacts from the True-DTAC merger, sent a letter dated April 20 to Prayut, asking him to indefinitely suspend the planned merger.
Anudit said in the letter that Prayut, as the chief executive of the country, should ask the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to indefinitely postpone approval for the merger until the NBTC comes up with clear-cut measures on how to protect the country and people’s interests that may be affected by the merger.
True and DTAC’s shareholders have approved the merger plan and the plan has been submitted to the NBTC for approval since January 25.
The House panel and several consumers protection organisations have voiced opposition to the merger, fearing the deal would lead to a duopoly in the telecom industry at the cost of consumers. They expressed fear that the new firm after the merger, and Advanced Info Service (AIS), the largest mobile phone operator by subscriber base, would somehow collude to increase service fees and hurt customers.
Anudit’s letter pointed out that the NBTC has the authority to block the merger in line with the Constitution of Thailand BE 2560 (2017).
The letter cited Section 60 of the charter that requires the government to protect telecom bandwidth for use for the sake of national and public interest.
“The State shall maintain the frequencies and the right to access a satellite orbit, which are national treasures, in order to utilise them for the benefit of the country and the people.
“The arrangement for utilisation of the frequencies under paragraph one, regardless of whether it is for radio broadcasting, television broadcasting and telecommunications or for any other purposes, shall be for the greatest benefit of the people, security of the State, and public interest as well as the participation of the people in the utilisation of frequency, as provided by law.
“The State shall establish a State organisation which is independent in performing duties to be responsible and supervise the undertakings in relation to frequencies under paragraph two. In this regard, such organisation shall ensure that there are measures to prevent unfair consumer exploitation or imposition of unnecessary burden on consumers, to prevent the interference of frequencies, as well as to prevent an act which results in obstructing the liberty of the people to know or preventing the people from knowing true and accurate data or information, and to prevent any person or any group of person from utilising the frequencies without considering the rights of general public,” the letter quoted Section 60 as saying.
The letter also quoted the first paragraph of Section 75 of the charter as saying that the government has to prevent monopoly in business practices.
“The State should organise an economic system which provides opportunities for the people to all together benefit from the economic growth in a comprehensive, fair and sustainable manner and to be self-reliant in accordance with the philosophy of sufficiency economy, should eliminate unfair economic monopoly, and should develop economic competitiveness of the people and the country.”
Earlier, an executive at True reportedly said that the NBTC would have no reasons to block the merger because the two companies have done everything right according to the telecom law.
The executive argued that several telecom mergers have taken place, so the NBTC could not pick on True and DTAC to block the merger.
