TOT acting president Monchai Noosong is tipped to be the next president of the state telecom enterprise after a nearly year-long selection process.
A TOT director, who asked not to be named, said approval for the selection of a new president was considered at yesterday's board meeting.
Mr Monchai is one of six candidates for the top post. The others are Arnont Tuptiang, who was president during the Abhisit Vejjajiva government; Teeravit Charuwat, president during the Yingluck Shinawatra government; Jesada Sivaraks, secretary to the vice-chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission; Pol Lt Col Piyawit Wongsawat, former adviser to the ICT minister; and Somprot Sarakoses, chief executive of VGM Corporation.
Monchai: One of six candidates for job
"Mr Monchai, who is backed by the military government, and Mr Arnont were the two potential candidates that advanced to final consideration for the top post," the director said.
If picked, Mr Monchai would succeed Yongyuth Wattanasin, who resigned last August.
An official announcement of the new TOT president will be made soon.
The TOT board would negotiate salary and benefits with Mr Monchai before drawing up the employment contract.
ICT Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa acknowledged that a proposal for Mr Monchai's selection came up at yesterday's meeting.
"I learned that Mr Monchai is the most likely candidate for the post," he said.
Mr Pornchai also identified the creation of new revenue streams as the most urgent task for the new president.
Other important jobs include ending disputes with mobile concessionaire Advanced Info Service to pave the way for a future business alliance, seeking potential strategic partners to help the ailing state enterprise survive after the expiry of concessions, and repositioning TOT to become a telecom network service provider for the government's national broadband project.
Mr Monchai earlier said TOT's fixed broadband service would be a key revenue source, generating 11.2 billion baht or one-third of total revenue in 2015.
In the first four months of the year, TOT's broadband service generated revenue of 3.8 billion baht.
TOT posted consolidated revenue of 12.2 billion baht in the first four months of 2015, down 20% from the year-earlier period.
But net profit reached 152 million baht, swinging from a 1.7-billion-baht loss last year.