The country's sole satellite service provider, Thaicom, Thursday appointed Anant Kaewruamvongs as its new chief executive, effective on May 1.
Mr Anant will take over for Paiboon Panuwattanawong, who resigned from his positions as chief executive, director and member of the executive committee for undisclosed reasons.
According to Prasert Bunsumpun, chairman of Thaicom's board of directors, Mr Anant's extensive experience makes him the ideal candidate to lead the company.
"Anant is the right person to lead and move Thaicom forward," Mr Prasert said in a Thaicom press release Thursday.
Mr Anant, 57, has more than 30 years of experience in the IT and telecommunications sectors in Asia, where he has held several executive positions.
He was chief executive and managing director of CS LoxInfo, a Thai IT solutions provider, from 2013 to 2018.
Mr Paiboon became chief executive of Thaicom on October 1, 2015.
A source at Thaicom said Mr Paiboon had a strong inclination to work as chief technician over the past 10 years, rather than acting as top manager of the whole company's administrative structure.
Thaicom is diversifying its business structure to cope with the downturn in the satellite business.
The company recently launched the Nava maritime service platform through fibre-to-the-ship technology, an attempt to create a new revenue stream and propel the maritime industry towards digital transformation.
More importantly, Thaicom faces the challenge of negotiations with the state over its Thaicom 7 and Thaicom 8 satellites.
The government wants the two satellites to come under a concession regime instead of the licensing regime as they are now.
Thaicom earlier scrapped a plan to launch a new satellite (Thaicom 9) in 2019 after suspending construction for a year, deeming the project not worth the investment.
The Thaicom source said that appointing Mr Anant is the best way to settle the fate of CS LoxInfo.
The largest mobile operator, Advanced Info Service (AIS), took over CS LoxInfo from its two major shareholders, Thaicom and Singtel. AIS announced its intention to take over CS LoxInfo last year through a tender offer and acquired 80.1%.
Mr Anant told the Bangkok Post that CS LoxInfo held a shareholder meeting on Tuesday and approved a resolution to de-list the company from the SET after the deal is complete, probably by July.
AIS plans to do another tender offer for the remaining nearly 20% to complete the takeover during May and June.
AIS will merge CS LoxInfo into its organisation structure as a new corporate sales unit if the deal goes as planned.
"The company has no plan to lay off existing employees of CSL, the transition will move smoothly," Mr Anant said.
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