'Too many rules to be able to enforce them'
A National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) commissioner admitted the regulatory body could not effectively enforce all of its regulations, because there were too many.
"We've introduced several regulations during the past two years but cannot effectively enforce all of them," NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck told a seminar on Wednesday entitled "The Telecom Industry Two Years after the NTC's Establishment", hosted by the Telecommunications Association of Thailand. As a result, the NTC has ordered its administrative office to outline details for procedures for all the regulations to be enforced, he said. He admitted many regulations lacked clear details to guide the compliance by telecom operators. "We need time to enforce all the regulations perfectly, but I can tell you we've tried our best," Sethaporn said. Noppadol Dej-udom, an executive at True, told the seminar the NTC's conditions for applying for additional phone numbers were impractical. He said one condition stated telecom operators could request additional phone numbers once they had only 50,000 phone numbers left in their systems. He said that in general, cellular operators could sell 50,000 phone numbers in one day. The NTC recently sent letters to inform its two licensees - TOT and CAT Telecom - that their licence conditions required them to inform the regulator every time they adjusted call tariffs or offered a new promotional campaign. The two also must instruct their private concessionaires to comply with the condition. Sethaporn also said the NTC was uncertain whether it could develop a licensing plan for the satellite business, because satellites could be used to provide broadcasting services. The Council of State said the NTC could continue its spectrum activities during the absence of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as long as such activities did not involve broadcast spectra. The NTC has consulted with the Council of State to determine whether it could further determine spectrum-management policies in the absence of the NBC. The Frequency Allocation Act mandates that the NTC and the NBC jointly allocate telecom and broadcasting spectra. Sethaporn said the NTC was drafting new fee rates for telecom spectra and a plan to take back idle spectra for reallocation. Moreover, it is considering giving away fixed-line licences or granting them at a discount to applicants, in order to promote that business. Usanee Mongkolporn The Nation
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