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General Questions
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Thaicom FAQ Feb 21, 2006

1. Is Thaicom (THCOM) still a Thai company now that foreigners have bought shares in Shin Corp?

The key is that no one bought shares in the company directly. Only 1.61% (as of the time of the transaction) of our shares are held directly by foreigners, and most of that is in the form of non-voting depository receipts (NVDR). See THCOM's Company Profile at http://www.set.or.th to calculate the amount of shares held by foreigners on any day. Foreigners who buy through local nominees are not counted (the shares are actually local shares held by local trustee companies). Even so, the Company's Articles of Association state that foreigners may not hold more than 40%. The only time they could hold more is if we sell new shares to a strategic partner, but even then, they are not allowed to hold more than 49.99% (and under the Telecom law this would be restricted to 49% anyway).

2. Was the proportion of shares allowed to be held by foreigners increased from 25% to 49% in order to facilitate foreigners to own the company?

The Telecom Act was drafted by a Chuan Leekpai Government and introduced 10 October 2001 by the current government. Before this, foreigners were allowed to hold 49% of telecom companies. Telecom companies and academics criticized the Act's Article 8 that reduced foreign ownership to 25% (this was not retroactive and did not affect companies like DTAC that had investment of over 25%). Critics feared that the clause would stop foreigners from investing – which was bad for the country's telecom development. To read more about this, refer to www.nationmultimedia.com archives from about Sept 2001 to May 2002 or ask IPR for a copy of all the relevant issues in pdf format. By May 2002, the government had agreed with the opposition to amend the Act to allow foreigners to hold 49%.

3. Did THCOM negotiate a lowering of SHIN's shareholding under the concession from 51% to 40% in order to facilitate the sale of shares in 2006?

It was announced in 2004 that THCOM would make a Public Offering of 208m new shares (which took place in June 2005). It was also revealed that SHIN would not participate in the offering (i.e. not buy any new shares) as it specifically wanted more Thais to hold shares in THCOM. The result was that the proportion of shares in our company held by SHIN would decrease to about 41%. The table below reveals that 70.29% of the new shares were bought by Thais.

Details of the sales	Thai investors		Foreign investors		Total
Details of the sales	Juristic Persons	Nutural Persons	Juristic Persons	Nutural Persons	Total
Number of persons	271	5,505	8	45	5,829
Number of shares subscribed	46,892,900	99,322,300	61,100,00	684,800	208,000,000
Percentage of total shares offered for sale	22.54%	47.75%	29.38%	0.33%	100%

The spirit of the concession was always to ensure SHIN maintained control of our company, and it was felt that over 40% would still allow this control. One precedent for this was AIS, in which SHIN holds 43% and maintains control. Therefore the concession was amended to allow SHIN to hold not less than 40% in our company.

4. Can THCOM sell satellite slots to others (including foreigners)?

No. This is impossible as all satellite slots belong to the government. We have the right to use them only.

5. Does THCOM use its satellites as collateral on loans?

No. All the satellites under the concession belong to the Thai government. For the loans guaranteed by the US EXIM and others, no collateral was required or offered.

6. Will applications for BOI privileges be affected now that Temasek owns part of SHIN?

We studied both the BOI regulations (www.boi.go.th) and the Foreign Investment Act and in both cases there is no restriction or ruling on foreign shareholding regarding the satellite business. The press may be confusing the issue with agricultural and mining businesses, on which there is a restriction. The BOI is considering our application for privileges for Thaicom 5. This is the same sized satellite, with roughly the same coverage area, as Thaicom 3, which was granted BOI support in the past. As Thaicom 4 (IPSTAR) has already been granted support according to the regulations of the BOI and the approval of its board, this should not be an issue today.

General Questions

Below are several questions generally asked by people considering an investment in Thaicom

1.On which exchange is Thaicom shares traded?

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

2.What is the Thaicom stock ticker symbol?

On the Stock Exchange of Thailand, its ticker is THCOM. When using the Bloomberg service, look for THCOM TB, and when using Reuters, look for SATT.BK.

3.When does Thaicom release its earning reports?

Our fiscal year follows the calendar year. We release earnings on a quarterly basis. Results are released 30 days after the end of the quarter and 60 days after the end of the year. An investor information meeting is usually called following the release of each quarter result at which the Executive Chairman will give a presentation and answer questions from investors and analysts.

4.What type of concession does THCOM have and will you convert it to a license?

On September 11, 1991, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (now the Ministry of Information, Communications, Technology or MICT) granted the company a 30-year Build-Transfer-Operate concession. The Company transferred its assets after construction to the state, including satellites and related equipment, and received the sole right to operate them. The Company amortizes that right, as shown in the notes regarding Cash Flows from Operating Activities, in the financial statements.

Under the concession, THCOM pays the MITC an agreed percentage of annual gross revenue earned from the transponder business, or a minimum remuneration, whichever is higher. The recvenue share increases incrementally over the period of the concession. To September 11, 2001 for instance, revenue sharing was at 10.5 per cent. After that date it rose to 15.5 per cent.

In 2000, the Company began discussions with the Thai Government with the aim of converting the concession to a license. This process seeks to achieve a level playing field for the company and future competitors as envisioned under the Thai Constitution The Thai Government intends to complete liberalization within the timeframe agreed with the World Trade Organization(WTO) as part of the process of complete liberalization in 2006. The negotiations were continuing at end of 2002. TABLE

5.How many years of life do your current satellites have?

Please see the table below for details. Points for investors to keep in mind are that the company would make a decision to replace a satellite well in advance of its expected end of life, and definitely ensure customers receive a continuous service. Therefore, revenues can be expected to continue for the life of the company, rather than any particular satellite.

Satellite	Launch Date	Lifespan
Thaicom 1A	December 17, 1993	15 yrs.
Thaicom 2	October 7, 1994	15 yrs.
Thaicom 3	April 16, 1997	14 yrs
IPSTAR	August 11,2005	16 yrs.
Thaicom 5	May 27,2006	at least 12 yrs.

6.What Businesses do you have?

Besides satellite uplink and downlink, we offer a series of value added services to customers who need to use satellites. This information is available elsewhere on this site at http://www.thaicom.net/eng/product.aspx. We also have two telecom companies, Lao Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (LTC), and Camshin Ltd. LTC (http://www.laotel.com) is a full service provider, with a landline telephone network, GSM 900 and 1800 mobile networks, internet and international call facilities. It has recently begun to implement a GSM 900 system using IPSTAR mobile trunking to rural areas and will introduce CDMA 450 for wireless fixed phones in rural areas, as well as CDMA 800 for mobile access.

Camshin (www.camshin.com) has a GSM 900 and 1800 network as well as a wireless local loop 450 MHz network that it will soon replace with a digital CDMA 450 system this year (2004). In Thailand, the Thaicom owns 40.02% of CS Loxinfo Plc (www.csloxinfo.com), Thailand's largest ISP, and owner of the Thai Yellow Pages company Teleinfo Media

WiMAX vs. IPSTAR Frequently Asked Questions

Below are several questions generally asked by people considering an investment in Thaicom

1.WiMAX can cover an area of 30 miles (50km)- does this pose real competition to IPSTAR?

This range of service is only for a point-to-point connection, which means that one base station can connect to only one user. It is therefore not a solution for the retail market. It could be used for backhaul links. If the base station is deployed for multiple users, the coverage will be reduced dramatically.Thaicom 4 (IPSTAR) spot beams have a diameter of 400km.

2. WiMAX can be used for last mile broadband connections and hotspots!

Yes, this is why WiMAX technology is being developed. It is aimed to serve broadband connectivity.

3. The investment cost of WIMAX is expected to be lower than DSL and cable networks.

At this time, WiMAX is rather expensive (about 3m-4m Baht for 1 base station and at least 20,000 Baht per CPE). This price will be lower only after there is economy of scale in WiMax deployment and this will not happen soon (for at least 2-3 years). Source: SR telecom, Avarion

Note also that WiMAX requires a fiber optic connection to the outside world. This is expensive outside of cities and is a rollout cost. IPSTAR has no rollout cost – it is available everywhere at the same time.

4.WiMAX is a long-term threat to IPSTAR, isn't it?

It could be a long-term threat in some urban and suburban markets. It is actually a bigger threat to ADSL operators, as its market will overlap more with ADSL than IPSTAR. (WiMAX is best for nearby suburban areas where it can be easily connected to fiber optic cables). However, again this depends on the cost of the WiMax equipment and when all standards of WiMax technology can be approved.

5.Who will use IPSTAR if they can set up WiMAX networks?

There is currently no commercial use of any easy-self-install WiMAX consumer unit. We still require a professional for the installation. WiMAX's product roadmap includes a chipset for mobile users and there will be also a self-install kit for WiMax users, but this will take 1-2 years and the cost will be very high and coverage quite small for such applications. Therefore, again, urban and suburban markets could be areas of competition for WiMAX, but in rural or remote areas, there will be no threat to IPSTAR

6.IPSTAR is old technology and WiMAX is newer and better.

Actually, the core technology of IPSTAR and WiMAX is the same (OFDM)! The difference is just frequency, plus WiMAX is used on land but IPSTAR uses a satellite. IPSTAR can claim to be WiMAX via Satellite.

7.The speed of WiMAX is much faster than IPSTAR.

Yes, the maximum speed per user of WiMAX is higher, but this does not mean more cost effective. The maximum speed of one WiMAX Base station is about 75Mbps, but this is for sharing among many users, therefore if the number of users per base station is larger than 20, the maximum speed of each user will be less than IPSTAR. Another thing is that WiMAX will have bottle-neck problems at the first mile. In addition, IPSTAR can provide cheaper equipment. IPSTAR can still provide service more efficiently for multicast services.

8.WIMAX can be used for mobile phones also, so it has an advantage over IPSTAR

IPSTAR can do the same with cheaper Wi-Fi phones and has less problem in handover between cells.

9.Linking rural areas to urban areas using WiMAX means IPSTAR will have no blind spots to cover any more, and those that are left will be uneconomical considering how much we put into the project.

There will always be a market where IPSTAR can profitably provide service as the cost of WiMAX for rural areas will be very high compared to IPSTAR, especially for dispersed or low-density areas. IPSTAR can provide service better due to lower average cost per user. However, for higher density rural areas, WiMAX shall have a lower average cost per user but it requires a backhaul connection (to connect to the rest of the country and world). IPSTAR is the best solution for this, so they could be complementary.