TOT tells companies to deliver numbers

Bangkok Post (28 November 2007)

The TOT board of directors wants contractors to finish the long-delayed addition of 565,000 telephone numbers and 220,000 broadband connections before the term of the military-appointed government expires.

Col Natee Sukolrat, a board spokesman, said Ericsson and Siemens were supposed to have delivered the 565,000 new numbers in August last year but could not finish on time.

The two companies won the contract in 2005 in an electronic auction with a combined price of 5.799 billion baht.

The project was divided into three zones with Siemens winning Zone 1 covering Bangkok and the northeastern provinces at 2.036 billion baht. Ericsson won Zone 2 (central and southern provinces) at 1.893 billion and Zone 3 (northern and eastern provinces) at 1.870 billion baht.

Col Natee said the board would try to push the two suppliers to deliver the project within the term of the current government so that TOT could determine the fine for late delivery.

The broadband expansion project is being undertaken by Huawei of China.

Col Natee dismissed an earlier report that TOT had decided to fine Siemens 320 million baht and Ericsson 440 million for the late delivery, reasoning that the amounts could not be determined until the work was completed.

The project had been delayed for 400 days, he said, adding that the two suppliers would face a fine of 0.1% of the project value per day.

The suppliers claimed flooding in several parts of the country, and the unrest in the South were major factors that delayed the construction, he said.

But Col Natee admitted that the delay was also due to expansion beyond the original terms of the contract.