Telecom operators will face additional costs from excise-duty payments, if a proposal from the Information and Communications Technology Ministry is approved.

ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said on Saturday he had already proposed to the Finance Ministry that amendments be made to a Cabinet resolution from the time of ousted prime minister Thaksin's government, which allowed the private telecom operators to deduct part of their concession fees for payment as excise duty.

The amendment will see the private telecom operators pay the full concession fee to their state concession owners - TOT or CAT Telecom - and the excise duty to the government. They will not be able to deduct part of the concession fee for payment as excise.

The Finance Ministry is considering the proposal, which is expected to be submitted for Cabinet consideration soon as part of the government's plan to promote a level playing field in the telecom sector.

Under the resolution of the Thaksin Cabinet in 2003, all private cellular operators have to pay 10 per cent of their concession fee as excise duty to the government first, before sharing the remainder of the fee with TOT or CAT.

Likewise, all fixed-line operators have paid 2 per cent of their concession fees to the government before sharing the remainder with TOT. This prompts a reduction of the two state agencies' concession revenue, while they are also subject to excise payment like all the other operators.

Sitthichai said his proposal was also in line with the white paper from the military-run Council for National Security, which claims that one reason for the overthrow of the Thaksin regime was its conversion of the concession fees into excise duty, which the council deems a conflict of interest.

While he said the proposal is aimed to promoting a level playing field and protecting the national interest, the private telecom operators have balked at the plan, with concerns about rising operating costs.

"We already have high operating costs," Wichian Mektrakarn, president of the largest cellular operator, Advanced Info Service, said yesterday.

Sigve Brekke, chief executive of Total Access Communication (DTAC), said it was impossible for DTAC to pay the concession fee, the access charge and the interconnection charge, all on the top of the excise duty.

Sitthichai said he had no duty to protect the private telecom operators' interests. If they plan to pass the additional burden on to consumers, he would step in to control their service prices.

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

The interconnection charge is a cost all telecom operators have to share proportionately between the networks involved in their calls.

DTAC, which holds a CAT concession, has asked TOT to convert its access charge into an interconnection charge. TOT has yet to grant the request because of concern over losing access-charge revenue worth about Bt14 billion per year.

Sitthichai said the state and private telecom operators, which are in access-charge conflict, should take the case to court.