DBD: Dtac registered Thai firm

Total Access Communication (Dtac) is a Thai company, Department of Business Development (DBD) director-general Banyong Limprayoonwong said on Thursday.

Citing the company's registration and shareholding structure documents, Mr Banyong said Thais hold 51 per cent of Dtac and the remaining 49 per cent is foreign owned.

True representative Suphasorn Honchaiya presents documents claiming that Dtac violates the Foreign Business Act at the Crime Suppression Division on June 14, 2011. (Photo by Surapol Promsaka Na Sakolnakorn)

He said True Move will this afternoon hand over to his department the documents it claimed to have derived from an in-depth check which concluded that 71.35 per cent of Dtac shares are held by foreigners and only 28.65 per cent by Thais.
Mr Banyong said the documents would be examined. If it were found that Dtac really has foreign majority shareholders it would be reclassified as a foreign firm.
If it is so, there would be tracing  to see whether Dtac had applied to the DBD for permission to run a telecommunication business. Telecommunication is included in the No 3 list attached to the Foreign Business Act and a foreign firm is required to seek permission from the department prior to starting a business, he added.
If Dtac had failed to do so, the penalty would be a fine of between 100,000 baht and one million baht and/or a jail term of no more than three years.
True Move on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division against its bigger rival Dtac, alleging it had a foreign majority shareholder in breach of the law.
The company asked the Crime Suppression Division to launch a new investigation into Dtac's ownership based on a report by Telecommunications Committee of the House of Representatives on April 21.
According to True, the report showed that Dtac is a foreign entity by law with a shareholding structure comprising only 28.65 per cent Thai ownership and the remaining 71.35 per cent owned by foreigners.