HOME REVIEW

CNS : Stop bugging us

Council for National Security chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin told his graft-busting Assets Scrutiny Committee that their yuppiephones were being tapped, previously by the Thaksin people but perhaps now by Shingaporeans. ASC secretary-general Kaewsan Atipho was certain his cellphone was being tapped. Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom demanded to know if any phone company has bugging devices, because they're all illegal.

Advanced Info Service executive chairman Somprasong Boonyachai was shocked that anyone could believe Shingapore would own any equipment able to wiretap any customer's phone, let alone actually bug it; he said any company that eavesdropped on its customers for any reason should lose its operating licence; which raised the question: If no one can bug, who did bug the heroin dealers on orders of the Supreme Court?

The first court-ordered wiretap since at least the Sukhothai era broke up a worldwide heroin ring based in Bangkok, after which the courts extradited three men to American courts; obscene profits from Operation Ivory Triangle netted the bad guys at least $30 million in a year; without wiretaps they would still be selling dope.

The chairman and five of nine other board members of your TOT quit after the Central Administrative Court ruled that, in effect, TOT is no longer the nation's telecommunications regulator; TOT chairman Montri Supaporn and colleagues staked their careers on banning 1.5 DTAC yuppiephone subscribers from the national phone network unless DTAC coughed up whole pickup-truckloads of concession charges disguised as "interconnection fees;" the court told TOT to eat the charges and keep the public online; Gen Montri estimated the decision will cost the state 12 billion baht, not to mention that telecoms disputes suddenly became fights between equals instead of a state giant against a mere company; Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom promised replacements within two weeks.

While your TOT performed its public snit, No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore signed an agreement on interconnection rates with True Move, the No 1 Thai-owned mobile firm; it is identical to earlier pacts with No 2 DTAC of Norway, and it will not affect consumers.

The daily newspapers claimed that two senior executives of your TOT Corp may have been involved in corruption, as hard as that is to believe; Information and Communication Technology Minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom said two vice presidents - Suvit Satayarakvit and Peerapan Soonthornsaratoon - are alleged to have information about various contracting and procurement deals that were not on the up and up; a third vice president for customers, Vasukree Klapairee, is under investigation; the only reason this shocking news is credible is because Mr Sitthichai said the graft went on during the days of Thaksin.

The ministry of Information and Communications Technology asked the junta's Assets Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise every government contract of the Thaksin era that involved telecoms; minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom believes the state may have lost 100 billion baht of revenue in sweet deals that benefited only Thaksin cronies and consumers. Information and Communication Technology Minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom demanded his cabinet colleagues revoke all telecom deals by the last government; the deal between your TOT and Advanced Info Service has cost 50 billion baht to the treasury, he said; Mr Sitthichai said there might be corruption involved, too.

The Bangkok Post and Bangkokpost.com established a partnership with CNET Networks Asia Pacific of Hong Kong; news and - especially - consumer electronics reviews from Cnet Asia and ZDNet Asia will appear in Post Database and on the BangkokPost.com web site.

Internet repair work hit severe setbacks underwater off China, and the smiles faded from the confident faces of the Global Marine folks who were confident about a fix in February; not a cable has been repaired, and for now, expect lousy email service and sluggish Internet speeds to continue indefinitely; Global Marine said its cables are 4,000 metres down, where neither robots nor humans can fix them - like Global Marine didn't know that when it was assuring everyone of repairs by February.

Huawei Technologies of China, known around your CAT Telecom as a generous, giving company and always welcome, won a 485.5 million baht CAT Telecom contract to wire up the West, Central and North with optical fibre. Information and Communication Technology Minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom asked your CAT Telecom to kindly settle its concession charge dispute with yuppiephone operators True Move and DTAC, and get their expansion numbers settled into the dialling system.

True Digital Entertainment looked abroad for possible expansion; the True Corp subsidiary, which develops online games, said it should be operating in Singapore and Malaysia before July, and in high-potential Vietnam, as well as Indonesia and the Philippines before another New Year's Eve celebration; general manager Isra Taulananda said the division made a 100-million-baht profit in 2005, but competition in Thailand is intense.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007