The measure was authorised on September 8 by National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chairman Choochart Promphrasid before being published in the Royal Gazette on Monday of this week. It will apply to both telecom operators and NTC licensees and not be retroactive.

Under the measure, the NTC can forbid a planned acquisition if it believes the move would lead to a monopoly.

Currently, TOT Plc is in talks with CAT Telecom Plc to buy a 42-per-cent stake in CAT's joint venture with Thai Mobile. Both state agencies are NTC licensees.

The NTC says it will determine whether a practice is monopolistic or anti-competitive by considering economic principles, the overall competition situation and the impact of the practice on new entrants and consumers.

Other restrictions include banning telecom operators from running cost-saving promotions among their subsidiaries and from offering advantages that would hamper the competitiveness of another operator. It will also prohibit telecom operators with a market share of 25 per cent or more from deterring competition by any other operator. Any telecom company that believes it has been infringed upon can request the NTC to investigate.

Currently, Advanced Info Service Plc is the Kingdom's largest cellular operator, with more than 17 million subscribers, followed by Total Access Communication with more than 10 million and True Move with about 5 million. TOT is the largest fixed-line service provider, while CAT is the dominant international-call service provider.

NTC licensee True Internet commands the largest broadband-Internet customer base, with about 300,000 subscribers.

An NTC official who declined to be named said the NTC planned to develop merger and acquisition guidelines next.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation