The labour unions of the state telecom enterprises, TOT and CAT Telecom, will submit a joint proposal to the prime minister tomorrow urging a merger of their boards of directors.
The move comes as the unions resist ongoing government efforts to split new two infrastructure companies from TOT and CAT Telecom.
Sungvorn Poonthien, president of CAT's labour union, said a single board will be more efficient in policy decision-making and operations.
The current process sees the government work through the Digital Economy and Society (DE) Ministry.
Convening at TOT's headquarters, the unions held a special meeting yesterday in protest of the government's policy, supported by the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation (SERC). Some 500 employees of TOT and CAT took part.
TOT union president Pongtiti Pongsilamanee said TOT's union will put in all efforts to oppose the government's policy and the TOT union will convince employees of both agencies not to apply for jobs with the new companies.
The cabinet on June 13 approved the DE Ministry's proposal to order TOT and CAT to establish two companies, National Broadband Network (NBN) for TOT Plc, and Neutral Gateway & Data Center (NGDC) for CAT Telecom. NBN and NGDC are expected to start operations by November.
NBN, 100% owned by TOT, will invest in domestic internet broadband and fibre optics, while NGDC, fully owned by CAT Telecom, will invest in an international broadband network, submarine cables and international cables.
Mr Pongthiti said setting up the new ventures will weaken their parent companies.
"TOT and CAT will be downsized after the move and do not have ownership in the core infrastructure," he said. "Customers will lose confidence in our competitiveness."
The move was also out of step with digital convergence ecosystem development in which all telecom players need to integrate their businesses and solutions together to provide seamless digital services to customers.
NBN and NGDC will have up to seven members on their boards, each comprising representatives of TOT, CAT, DE and the private sector.
"Nobody can guarantee that establishing the companies will create practical results," Mr Pongthiti said.
