Bangkok--17 Jul--Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings has today said that all ratings of Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS) and Total Access Communication Public Company Limited (DTAC) remain on Rating Watch Negative (RWN). The ratings are as follows: AIS: Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) 'BBB+', National Long-term 'AA(tha)', National Short-term 'F1+(tha)'. DTAC: Long-term foreign currency IDR 'BB+', National Long-term 'A(tha)', National Short-term 'F1(tha)', senior unsecured debentures rated 'A(tha)'. AIS's and DTAC's ratings, which were placed on RWN in February 2007, remain on RWN as significant policy, regulatory and legal uncertainties have yet to be resolved. In May 2007, the Council of State (which is the government's legal advisory body) gave an opinion that the amendments to telecoms concessions, including those of AIS and DTAC, are not in compliance with the Private Participation in State Undertakings Act B.E. 2535 (1992) given the lack of approval from the Coordinating Committee and the Cabinet prior to entering into these amendments, although the Council also indicated that this did not effect the validity and binding of the amendments at this time. The final decision on the concessions amendment issue is still subject to further review by the government. Fitch expects to resolve the RWN once there is more certainty on these key policies, legal and regulatory issues under the newly elected government over the next six months. AIS, Thailand's largest mobile operator, reported a consolidated last-twelve-month (LTM) EBITDAR of THB40.7bn in Q107, a 15% drop from THB47.9bn in Q106, due mainly to intense price competition and rising service and revenue sharing costs. Nonetheless, AIS's financial position remains solid with net adjusted debt to LTM EBITDAR of 0.4x in Q107. DTAC is the second-largest cellular operator in Thailand. The company reported a strong yoy LTM EBITDAR growth of 9.7% to THB18.8bn in Q107. While capex has increased to fund the network expansion, DTAC's financial position has continued to strengthen on strong earnings growth; its net adjusted debt to LTM EBITDAR dropped to 2.2x in Q107 from 2.4x in Q106. Contacts: Obboon Thirachit, Wasant Polcharoen, Vincent Milton, Bangkok, Tel: +662 655 4755. Note to Editors: Fitch's National ratings provide a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in countries with sub- or low-investment grade international sovereign ratings. The best risk within a country is rated 'AAA' and other credits are rated only relative to this risk. National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets and are signified by the addition of an identifier for the country concerned, such as 'AAA(tha)' for National ratings in Thailand. Specific letter grades are not therefore internationally comparable. Media Relations: Shivani Sundralingam, Singapore, Tel: + 65 6336 0095. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. 101 Finsbury Pavement, London, EC2A 1RS