Thailand’s ministry of finance has appointed Yongyuth Watanasin as the new CEO of state-owned operator TOT, effective today.
Yongyuth will have a term of four years and a monthly salary of 380,000 baht ($12,736). Prior to becoming CEO he was EVP for networks, and was as TOT scholar since earning his bachelors’ degree in engineering.
The Ministry has tasked the new CEO with carrying out the government’s vision of providing universal access and finding a new partner to reduce the government’s financial burden after the concession revenue is no longer paid to TOT in 2014.
Meanwhile, fellow state-owned telco CAT Telecom has announced it is launching a VoIP initiative targeting neighbouring countries Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.
CAT assistant VP Somkiat Kulthamyothin said that outbound call volume to Myanmar in particular has increased dramatically in 2012 with a reduction in call costs to 10 baht ($0.34) a minute due to the large number of migrant workers.
CAT has set a target of 4 billion baht ($13.4 million) for its international calls, the same as this year, with lower costs cancelling out increasing call volume.
Elsewhere, Thailand’s regulator has said it will not forward the remainder of the 3G auction money to the Ministry of Finance until all the the lawsuits regarding the auction are settled.
The Ministry had recently sent a letter to the NBTC asking it to forward to remainder of the 3G auction money, amounting to 20 billion baht ($700 million).