State telecoms listing U-turn
Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said yesterday the government would abolish its earlier plan to list TOT and CAT Telecom on the stock market.
"Both units' operations affect our national security so they should not be corporatised and privatised by applying to be listed on the stock exchange," Sitthichai said. He said it would be difficult to supervise the two strategic national assets if shares were traded on the stock market. The minister said both companies, formerly the Telephone Organisation of Thailand and the Communications Authority of Thailand, should be re-nationalised as state enterprises. Earlier, the privatisation of Egat, formerly the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, was stopped by the Supreme Administrative Court following a lawsuit filed by consumer groups.
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