Thai Operator Denies Vodafone Interested in Stake in Company

­Thailand's Total Access Communication (TAC) has refuted rumours that Vodafone is considering taking a stake in the company. The Thai operator's share price jumped sharply late last week on the rumours.

"For our relationship with Vodafone, we are going to cooperate on roaming and business solutions. There's nothing about it being a shareholder," Chief Executive Officer Tore Johnsen told Reuters. Earlier this year, the two companies signed a roaming and marketing pact.

Across Asia, Vodafone has Partner Market agreements in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, with additional equity investments in India, Australia, New Zealand, China and Fiji.

Figures from the Mobile World database show that TAC ended the first half of this year with some 19.2 million subscribers and was placed second in the market behind AIS.

A couple of months ago, rival operator, CAT Telecom's new CEO, Jirayuth Roongsrithong said that he wanted to look for a foreign strategic partner to run and deliver the network's planned 3G service. Thai telecoms laws limit foreign holdings in companies in the sector to 49 percent.

The country has repeatedly delayed its 3G license auction and this is now not expected to occur until next year at the earliest.

On the web: Reuters

Posted to the site on 31st August 2009