DTAC and TOT go to arbitration
DTAC and TOT entered a process of dispute settlement before a panel of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) yesterday.
TOT has insisted that Total Access Communication (DTAC) should pay an access charge. A TOT representative said that DTAC was not an NTC licensee but a concessionaire and therefore not subject to the NTC's interconnection regime.The NTC's arbitration panel summoned the two parties to settle the dispute. All cellular operators holding the concession of CAT Telecom have paid a combined access charge of around Bt14 billion to TOT for connecting different networks via TOT facilities. But DTAC and True Move, both of which are CAT's concessionaires, have made it clear that they want to pay only the interconnection charge, instead of both access and interconnection charges. The interconnection charge requires all telecom operators that signed the bilateral interconnection deal to share voice and data revenue between the networks involved in the calls. Advanced Info Service, DTAC and True Move have already signed bilateral interconnection deals. The refusal of DTAC and True Move to pay the access charge to TOT prompted the state agency to refuse to connect its fixed-line subscribers with an additional 1.5 million mobile phone numbers of DTAC and True Move. Last month the Central Administrative Court ordered TOT to enable such connections so that consumers would not be affected. Usanee Mongkolporn, THE NATION
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