Regulator seeks advice on ‘remedy period’ debts owed by TrueMove, DPC
THE NATION September 22, 2016 1:00 am
THE NATIONAL Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s telecom committee will ask the Office of the Auditor-General and the Finance Ministry to examine two different calculations on how much revenue TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) have to pay the state from their operations during the post-concession remedy period.
The committee needs these figures to be considered carefully before it makes a final decision on the correct amounts.
The two companies' concessions with CAT Telecom expired in September 2013, but the NBTC required them to continue providing the service for a so-called remedy period to prevent disruption to their customers.
This was on the condition that they would transfer the revenue gained during the remedy period to the state.
Initially the NBTC office appointed a panel comprising NBTC officials and outsiders to calculate the amount. After the panel came to a conclusion, the NBTC office assigned its own team to redo the calculations, citing the need to come up with a figure that better reflected actual costs.
The original panel found that TrueMove should pay Bt13.989 billion and DPC Bt879.59 million of the revenue earned during their operation from September 16, 2013, to December 3, 2015, while the NBTC office team concluded that TrueMove should pay Bt1.507 billion and DPC Bt734.4 million.
The first panel also concluded that TrueMove and DPC would have to pay to CAT rental fees of Bt1.796 million and Bt300,000 respectively for their use of the state agency's transmission network during the remedy period, while the NBTC office calculated Bt645.97 million and Bt314.5 million respectively.