Court rejects DTAC’s injunction against True and CAT’s HSPA partnership

Thailand’s Central Administrative Court has rejected a plea from cellco DTAC which had asked for an injunction against the 3G W-CDMA/HSPA network partnership deals struck by state-run CAT Telecom and True Corp, parent of DTAC’s private-sector cellular rival True Move, in January this year. The court’s decision frees CAT and True – the recent purchaser of Bangkok CDMA operator Hutch (previously a joint venture of CAT and Hutchison Telecom) – to embark on full-blown joint investment in a national HSPA-based 3G network. Executives of both CAT and True were quoted as saying that they will press ahead with the national 3G rollout, sticking to a commitment of a first-phase launch in this year’s third quarter. DTAC had alleged that the CAT-True deals were unlawful but the court dismissed any suggestions that the agreements failed to comply with laws and regulations, a ruling which means DTAC cannot seek another injunction on the matter. As a warning note, though, according to the report, the court did agree to a judicial review of the legitimacy of the CAT-True deals, which are also subject to ongoing probes from state agencies.