Thailand’s state-owned CAT Telecom is forming a joint venture with South Korea’s telecom operator SK Telecom to offer an e-payment gateway service to the rapidly-growing online business sector in Thailand.
The joint venture, Tree Pay Co, is the first deal that CAT has made with a foreign firm.
According to a source from CAT Telecom, the new company will have registered capital of 200 million baht ($5.7 million), of which 51 per cent is held by the Korean partner and the rest 49 per cent by the Thai firm.
“The JV is set to be announced in the third quarter and expected to generate more than 1 billion baht ($28.6 million) in revenue within five years,” the source said.
It targets to serve both the public and private sectors covering the big corporate companies as well as the small-and medium-sized enterprises.
The State Enterprise Policy Office (SEPO), which was assigned by the government to restructure the state-owned companies including CAT Telecom and TOT Pcl, has ordered the agencies to restructure and merge their core businesses during the next one year.
According to local media, they will turn their transmission and fibre optic networks into National Broadband Network Co with the asset worth 15 billion baht. Their internet gateway and submarine-cable networks will be transferred to be Neutral Gateway Network Co with the assets worth 5 billion baht and their internet data centres will be changed into IDC Co.
CAT runs the country’s international telecom infrastructure including international gateways, satellite, and submarine cable networks connections, while TOT is the telecom service provider.
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