True Corp vowed to appeal a decision by the Arbitral Tribunal ordering it to compensate National Telecom (NT) for additional interconnection charges and interest totalling THB7.1 billion ($195.8 million) related to a joint telecoms concession.

The tribunal demanded True pay state-owned NT THB4.1 billion over the dispute and imposed an interest penalty of 15 per cent per year dating to when the claim was submitted.

In a stock market filing, True stated it disagreed with the award and would petition the Central Administrative Court to overturn the ruling.

NT was created by a merger between CAT Telecom and TOT in 2021.

The case against True relates to an arbitration claim CAT Telecom filed in 2019 against dtac, which later merged with True, seeking additional revenue share covered by the concession. 

True’s merger with dtac left it as the largest operator in Thailand by mobile connections, with GSMA Intelligence estimating 51.4 million at end-September.