However, ICT minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom declined to reveal details of the plan except to say that he had sent the proposed solution to the Finance Ministry for consideration.

Sitthichai added that the Finance Ministry, which owns TOT and CAT Telecom, was expected to enact the solution in two weeks' time.

On Thursday Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula said the government would overhaul the regulatory fees paid by telecom operators in order to create the level playing field for all service-providers.

Recently cellular operator Total Access Communication (DTAC), which holds a CAT concession, asked TOT to convert the state agency's access charge into the interconnection charge introduced recently in regulations issued by the National Telecommunications Commission.

The access charge is a fee all three private cellular operators, which hold CAT concessions, have paid to TOT for connecting different networks via TOT's network.

However, without saying anything specific on the access charge, the regulations covering the interconnection charge call for the two networks involved in sending and receiving data or a call to proportionately share revenue.

TOT has yet to grant DTAC's request. The state agency stands to lose around Bt14 billion a year if it stops collecting access charges from CAT's cellular concessionaires.