Thailand’s ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana announced today that the country’s two state-owned telecoms operators – TOT and CAT Telecom – won’t be merged into a single company, but said the firms will consolidate overlapping businesses to avoid duplicating investments.

The two enterprises have been operating under so-called “survival plans” by focusing on core businesses and moving out of unprofitable areas.

The State Enterprise Policy Commission, set up by the National Council for Peace and Order to review the operations of state enterprises, ordered loss-making TOT nearly two years ago to submit a plan for cutting non-core businesses and focus on six areas to enable it to streamline operations and cut costs.

TOT reported a loss of THB480 million ($13.6 million) on consolidated revenue of THB12.9 billion in H1.

CAT, which is a step ahead in the process, submitted a five-year “survival plan” under the previous government and also has been working to streamline its businesses.

The commission recently approved proposals to consolidate three core businesses: transmission and fibre-optics networks, submarine cable networks and internet data centres. But their fixed-line broadband, mobile and telecoms tower services will remain unchanged, the Bangkok Post reported.

The two enterprises may need to form separate joint ventures to manage and operate the combined businesses.

Uttama said they face a “do-or-die situation and must quickly adjust their organisational and business structures in order to survive”, the Post reported. He noted there are no plans to lay off permanent staff at TOT or CAT.

TOT has 15,000 employees, while CAT has nearly 6,000.