The National Tele-communications Commission (NTC) is considering reducing overall regulatory fees to promote industry growth.

NTC chairman Choochart Promphrasid said late last week that a plan to revise annual regulatory fees will be tabled this week at a NTC meeting.

The commission said that since granting the first overall telecom licences to TOT Plc and CAT Telecom Plc last August, overall fee rates will be revised every year to encourage applicants to apply for licences.

"It's no use in collecting high regulatory fees," Choochart said, adding that the NTC might drastically cut the Internet licence fee or waive it altogether.

The NTC has three types of licence. The type-1 is for applicants without their own networks; type-2 for those with or without their own networks whose service is intended for a limited customer group; and type-3 is for applicants with large networks offering a service that can affect the market on a large scale.

The cost of the type-1 licence is Bt20,000 per year, and the ordinary type-2-licence Bt25,000.

A type-2 licence for an applicant with a network is Bt250,000 per year, while the type-3 licence is 3 per cent of the applicant's total annual revenue.

Moreover, applicants for type-3 licences must pay 4 per cent of revenue as a Universal Service Obligation tax to the NTC if it declines to provide telecom services to remote areas.

Telecom operators have criticised the NTC's fees for the type-3 licence.

The NTC has so far awarded Internet licences, type-1, to more than 30 companies, type-2 licences to BMCL Plc, and type-3 licences to the TOT, CAT and Triple T Broadband.

The commission has yet to award the long-awaited licence to operate broadband wireless 3G spectrums, pending a ruling of

the Council of State whether it

can allocate licences without

waiting for the creation of the National Broadcasting Commis-sion (NBC).

The frequency allocation law stipulates that the regulatory bodies have to jointly allocate the frequencies.

However, the Central Admin-istrative Court ruled in November to nullify the process of selecting NBC members, citing its unconstitutionality.

This set the stage for a fresh selection of NBC members.

But the NTC will hold a meeting today with telecom operators to jointly determine the licensing details. The meeting will focus on the topics of licensing methods, the social and economic impact of 3G technology, and the suitable bandwidth for 3G spectrums to be allocated to the applicants.

Commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck said the NTC would also discuss whether the licence would limit the types of 3G applications to cover only telecom services and not cover broadcasting services which are under the authority of the NBC.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation