Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom will not submit his proposal to adjust all cellular concession fee rates to the same level for Cabinet consideration next Tuesday, following a disagreement with Advanced Info Service (AIS).

This has raised doubts over the success of his initiative to adjust the concession fee rates of all cellular operators to the uniform rate of 25 per cent to promote fair competition in the sector.

A Finance Ministry source said the ministry would also not submit for the Cabinet's consideration on the same date a plan to uniformly cut the telecom excise tax to zero from the present 2 per cent for fixed-telephone operators and 11 per cent for cellular operators. The source said the ministry needs two more weeks to study the impact.

ICT Minister Sitthichai said yesterday that AIS recently told him it would not accept his plan unless he orders its concession owner, TOT, to officially accept that the AIS access charge is included in the concession fee.

"I've no such authority to do so for AIS, so I decided not to propose my plan to the Cabinet," Sitthichai said, adding he would continue talking to AIS about the matter.

Earlier, Sitthichai said AIS had promised to increase its concession fees gained from prepaid service to 25 per cent from the current 20 per cent and to reduce its concession fee of post-paid call service to 25 per cent from 30 per cent. This would bring its concession fee rates on the same level of its rivals.

The access charge is a cost all cellular operators who hold a concession of CAT Telecom - including Total Access Communication (DTAC), True Move, and Digital Phone - have paid to TOT for connecting different networks via TOT's facilities.

DTAC and True Move contend that TOT has waived the access charge for its own concession holder, while AIS argues that it has included the access charge in the concession fee.

An executive source at AIS said that if TOT accepts AIS has paid the access charge, it would mean that if TOT agrees to cut the access charge for CAT's cellular concessionaires, AIS could also claim the same benefit.

"It's sad that the good intention of the ministry is not going through," DTAC chief executive Sigve Brekke said yesterday.

He said he does not understand why AIS had mixed the access charge and concession fee issues.

Brekke said that DTAC has made it clear that  concession fee and access charge are separate issues.

"We'll continue supporting the minister in his market reform process," he added.

DTAC had earlier pressured TOT to convert the access charge into the interconnection charge of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), so that it would pay only the interconnection fee, not both access and interconnection fees.

The interconnection charge mandates all telecom operators to share voice revenue proportionately between the networks involved in the calls.