The national telecom regulator yesterday ordered its licensee, TOT Plc, to immediately stop charging customers for its 1133 phone-directory inquiry service.

TOT, however, responded by saying it was not prepared to comply.

Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn, secretary-general of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), said the order was in line with the board's approval yesterday of a policy to protect consumer benefits.

"Moreover, the NTC has yet to announce the new overall telecom tariff structure, so TOT has to offer the service free of charge like before," he added.

The cost of operating the service is about Bt233 million yearly and the number of calls is estimated at 10 million per month. Before the new tariff structure announcement, all telecom operators have to maintain their existing call rates.

After the announcement, the NTC will examine which kind of telecom services can charge customers, but Suranan said that the 1133 service would be offered free of charge because it is a public service. The NTC is expected to introduce the new tariff structure in the middle of the year, he said.

However, TOT president Teerawit Charuwat yesterday said that TOT would not stop charging for the 1133 service because the NTC has yet to announce the new overall telecom tariff structure and TOT needs the money to finance improvements to its services.

TOT had operated the information service - formerly well known as the 13 service - free of charge for years but started charging customers last month at the rate of Bt3 per minute.

In an NTC release yesterday, NTC chairman Choochart Prom-phrasid said the NTC move was in line with its intention to protect consumers who earlier accessed the information service free of charge.

On Monday, the TOT board asked the agency to share with telecom operators the revenue from the 1133 service. TOT would take half of the call rate amount and the mobile-phone operators would pay 20 per cent of the remaining sum to TOT that they gain from prepaid phone customers who use the 1133 service, and 30 per cent from post-paid users.

Likewise, TOT will take half of the amount and the fixed-line operators True Corp Plc and TT&T Plc would pay 18 per cent and 82 per cent respectively of the remaining sum to TOT. If people contact 1133 via the public phones of True and TT&T, again TOT would share half of the call rate first and both will also pay 23.5 per cent and 76.5 per cent respectively of the remaining sum to TOT.

In a separate matter, Suranan said the licensing body would visit its licensees, including TOT, CAT Telecom Plc, and its Internet service provider licensees, at their offices next week to learn if they have encountered any problems after receiving their licences.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation