Thai carriers Total Access Communication (Dtac) and True Corp have completed their merger. Nordic operator Telenor, which partially ownes Dtac, said in a statement that the transaction is the largest telco merger in Southeast Asia by combined enterprise value.
The new company will have a combined subscriber base of around 51 million customers, surpassing Thailand’s current largest telco AIS, which has 43.7 million subscribers. The new entity will have an enterprise value of over $20 billion. The two groups said earlier this year the merged entity will retain only the True Corp brand.
Thai carriers Total Access Communication (Dtac) and True Corp have completed their merger. Nordic operator Telenor, which partially ownes Dtac, said in a statement that the transaction is the largest telco merger in Southeast Asia by combined enterprise value.
Jorgen Rostrup, executive vice president of Telenor Group and head of Telenor Asia, said: “Telenor is ready to support True Corporation with access to advanced technology, a network of global partners and cutting-edge industry insights. The new company will combine the strengths of Dtac and True to deliver high quality connectivity and leverage the latest developments in 5G, AI and IoT.”
The new company, together with partners, intends to raise $200 million in venture capital. Both Telenor and CP Group will be equal partners, with equal 30.3 percent ownership stakes in the new company. They will serve their customers separately for the next three years, as requested by the Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
NBTC voted approved the merger in late 2022, after the deal was announced in 2021. It sees the Thai telecom market shrink to two major players. AIS currently has 44 percent of Thailand’s mobile subscriber base; True and Dtac have 34 percent and 21 percent shares, respectively. True is backed by Thailand’s largest private company, Charoen Pokphand, as well China Mobile. Dtac is almost half-owned by Telenor.
