Thai state-owned operator TOT is ready to take over concessionaire True Corporation’s fixed line operations upon the expiry of the concession agreement in October.
TOT has spent months preparing the operational procedures that will be needed to take over the provision of services to around 1.2 million customers.
As part of Thailand’s transition to a licensing regime, the 25-year build-operate transfer concession agreement will be allowed to expire on October 26. True had been paying 18% of its total revenue to TOT under this concession.
Once the concession expires True will transfer its fixed line network assets and customers to TOT.
The operator will lose fixed line service revenue of around 2 billion baht ($57.7 million) per year, while TOT expects to be able to realise revenues of 2.8 billion baht per year from the assets.
TOT plans to start writing to True customers in July informing them of the scheduled takeover of the fixed line operations. The state operator already has its own fixed line business, with around 3.4 million subscribers nationwide.
According to the report, TOT meanwhile plans to spend around 400 million baht this year on fixed line maintenance and repair.