TOT spokesman Thomrat Hatayodom yesterday said the company's board would ask the ICT minister to consult with the Cabinet about the amendments.

TOT plans to forward to the ministry the third to seventh contracts with Advanced Info Service (AIS) and all contracts with True and TT&T. Thomrat said the board did not investigate why the amendments were not presented to the Cabinet for approval.

The amendments cover changes in fees to extensions of the concession periods.

Anant Worathitipong, the AIS executive in charge of regulatory affairs, said the private operators were not at fault. He said it was the responsibility of the state agency to obtain proper approval.

He said the TOT's examination of the private telecom concessions was in line with the ministry's policy of having TOT and CAT Telecom review concession developments to determine compliance with the law.

ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom sent all the telecom contracts to the Council of State for a legal opinion.

The TOT board also reported its performance in the past month, including its appointment of an advisory committee consisting of telecom and legal experts to assist it in making decisions on key issues.

The board appointed audit, remuneration and risk-management committees as part of good governance.

It also tackled TOT's key problem: the access charge disagreement with Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move.

Both cellular operators informed TOT on November 17 of their intention to convert TOT's access charge to an interconnection charge.

All cellular operators on CAT concessions have paid the access charge to TOT as a cost of connecting to other networks via TOT's facilities, while the interconnection charge of the National Telecommunications Commission requires all telecoms to share voice revenues between the networks involved in a call.

DTAC and True Move do not want to pay both the interconnection and the access charges, only the interconnection charge. TOT had told DTAC and True Move to continue paying the access charge while a committee was set up to seek agreement with both cellular operators.

TOT has earned Bt14 billion a year in access charges from the three cellular operators on CAT concessions.

The TOT board also proposed to the Finance Ministry the establishment of ICT Thailand Holding, in order to supervise the operations of TOT, CAT and Thailand Post as part of a plan to reduce investment redundancy and improve the companies' competitiveness. The Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent of all state telecoms.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation