TOT president Teerawit Charuwat said yesterday that TOT would stop charging customers who called 1133, but on a temporary basis, and the state agency would consult with its board on April 7 about what to do next, including possibly permanently cancelling the charge.

The decision came after TOT yesterday received the second order from its licence-owner, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The NTC said TOT would be hit with a fine of Bt420,000 per day if it continued to charge for the service.

The first such order was in early March when the NTC ordered TOT to immediately stop charging callers to 1133, in line with the NTC board's adoption of a policy to protect consumers' interests.

However, TOT refused to comply with the order, claiming a need to maintain the charge as a way of reducing the operating costs or preventing losses from the supply of public services such as directory enquiries.

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

The regulator argued that as it had yet to announce a new overall telecom tariff structure, TOT must continue to offer the service free of charge. Until the new tariff structure is announced, all telecom operators have to maintain their existing call rates.

Telecom Reporters

 The Nation