The CAT Telecom board has decided to terminate its two international voice services through the operator system in order to stem the state agency's financial bleeding.
Services will end next April after CAT's customers are advised of the change.
CAT is also required to inform the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of the terminations, acting CAT Telecom president Col Sanpachai Huvanandana said yesterday.
The move is part of a policy by the State Enterprises Policy Commission or superboard to terminate unprofitable businesses and focus on six core areas instead — basic telecommunications infrastructure, telecom towers, wireless broadband service, fixed-line broadband, international internet gateways and submarine cables.
CAT 100 and CAT Thailand Direct, both of them operator-assisted international voice services, have posted a combined operating loss of 30 million baht a year since 2012.
Col Sanpachai said customers preferred making international calls directly via mobiles.
CAT 100, a service that places international collect calls, is used only 500 minutes a year on average, while CAT Thailand Direct registers only 10,000 minutes a year, he said.
"This usage cannot cover our costs including the numbering fee paid to the NBTC," Col Sanpachai said.
But he insisted the service termination would not affect CAT's operator staff, saying they would be transferred to lucrative business units.
Col Sanpachai said CAT would continue focusing on its international direct dialing (IDD) services. Customers can telephone abroad directly by dialling CAT's IDD codes 001 or 009 together with the country code and destination phone number.
CAT expects revenue of 52 billion baht next year, up by 8.4% from this year, with 26 billion from wireless business, 7.5 billion from broadband internet, 3.3 billion from IDD, 850 million from IT and cloud computing and 12 billion from concession-related operations.
Its mobile business is expected to generate 1 billion baht this year, while its business under the mobile virtual network operator model is forecast for 24 billion.
CAT plans to spend 10 billion baht to expand its businesses next year.