Consumer group seeks probe of alleged law breaking by NBTC in True-Dtac case

TCC secretary-general Saree Ongsomwang filed a complaint with Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, chairman of the House panel, alleging the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) violated several points of the law last week when it gave the green light for True Corporation and Total Access Communication (Dtac) to go ahead with their merger deal.

The NBTC voted 3:2 on the resolution, saying it had no power to either approve or reject the merger but could only enact measures to govern the deal to minimise the impact on consumers.

Saree said the way the five NBTC members voted could violate Section 157 of the Criminal Code that prohibits state officials from committing malfeasance or nonfeasance.

The initial vote resulted in a draw of two-two because a NBTC member abstained, so the chairman cast a decisive vote to “acknowledge” the amalgamation.

Saree noted that a NBTC directive issued in 2018 stipulated that if two types of telecom businesses are merged, it must comply with Point 8 the NBTC directive issued in 2006, which empowered the watchdog to consider approving or rejecting the deal.

In particular, Saree said, the TCC suspected that the NBTC member who abstained had allegedly committed dereliction of duty.

She noted the NBTC had also failed to hold public hearings on mitigation measures issued to govern the deal.

Saree said the TCC believes the governing measures will not benefit consumers and will discourage the merged companies from investing to expand mobile phone access in rural areas.

After receiving the complaint, Sereepisuth said the NBTC act required such a deal to be deliberated upon by seven NBTC members, so he wondered why only five members considered it and gave it the green light.

“I suspect the process was rushed through and there might be a conflict of interest,” Sereepisuth said.

The TCC had earlier said it would file a lawsuit with the Central Administrative Court as well to ask it to order the revocation of the NBTC’s acknowledgement of the merger and to issue an injunction to suspend the merger pending a ruling by the court. The lawsuit is expected to be filed next month.