TOT wrote a letter challenging its licence owner, saying that it has to maintain the charge as a way of reducing the operating costs of its public services and preventing a possible financial loss.

TOT added that during the current era of market liberalisation and in view of its encountering fiercer competition from other local telecom operators, which have financially strong foreign partners, the agency had to improve its overall performance to cope with the competitive environment.

TOT said it had to maintain the charge as the NTC had recently refused to allow it to deduct several of its services that were provided for the public benefit, including the 1133 service, from its overall regulatory cost.

As a result, TOT has to find another means to reduce the cost of these kinds of services.

According to TOT, the cost of operating the 1133 service is about Bt233 million yearly and the number of calls is estimated at 10 million per month. The statement added that TOT determined the call rate of the 1133 service in 1999.

NTC chairman Choochart Promphrasid said yesterday that the NTC would convene immediately after looking into the details of the case to consider whether TOT's decision to keep charging 1133 customers is reasonable.

On Tuesday, the NTC ordered TOT to immediately stop charging customers for its 1133 service in line with the board's approval of a policy to protect consumer benefits.

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

The regulator added that it had yet to announce a new overall telecom tariff structure, so TOT must continue to offer the service free of charge.

Before the new tariff structure is announced, 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 the 1133 service would be offered free of charge because it is a public service.

The NTC is expected to introduce a new tariff structure in the middle of the year.

Shortly after the NTC's order on Tuesday, TOT president Teerawit Charuwat said that TOT could not comply with the order because the NTC has yet to announce the new telecom tariff structure and TOT needs the money to finance improvements to its service.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation