Sethaporn Cusripituck, a commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), said the NTC commissioners had earlier discussed waiving the licence fees as part of its plan to ensure telecom service accessibility to consumers nationwide, especially those in rural areas.

"Another option is giving applicants a grace period for paying the licence fee," he said.

So far no companies have applied for network leasing service licences, also known as a Type 3 licence.

The licence is meant for companies with large networks. The licence fee is equal to 3 per cent of an applicant's revenue.

Licence holders also have to pay 4 per cent of revenue to the NTC for the Universal Service Obligation (USO) tax if it does not want to invest expanding services in remote areas.

Sethaporn said the NTC was also considering centralising the management of existing telecom networks to make it easier to lease networks to newcomers and help them avoid the substantial costs associated with rolling out a new network.

"If we can do this, the new entrants would not have to spend considerable amounts to create new networks, which would cause an outflow of the country's foreign currency," he said.

He said the plan was viable because all networks in Thailand were under "build-transfer-operate" concession contracts with TOT Plc and CAT Telecom Plc. Sethaporn said that if all the networks could be merged into a single entity, no telecom operator would have to pay an interconnection fee.

The NTC is implementing interconnection regulations, which will require all telecom operators to share revenue of calls made between subscribers to two different networks.

Last week, NTC chairman Choochart Promphrasid said the NTC was considering reducing all of its regulatory fees to promote growth and encourage people to apply for all three of its licence types.

Type 1 is for applicants without their own networks. Type 2 is for those with or without their own networks that offer services for a limited customer group. And Type 3 is for applicants with large networks offering services that can affect the market on a large scale.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation