The telecom regulator has ordered a probe into alleged unfair practices by the international-call subsidiary of Advanced Info Service (AIS) in its service trial earlier this month.

National Telecommunications Commission secretary-general Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn said the findings will be referred to the NTC meeting next week.

CAT Telecom complained in a letter to the NTC last week that Advanced International Network (AIN) failed to inform AIS's mobile-phone subscribers that if they used "+" to make international calls during the trial, their calls would be routed through AIN's network rather than through CAT's as usual.

CAT claimed this would confuse callers, because the AIS website still advised that entering the "+" symbol was equal to entering the 001 international calling code to make calls via CAT Telecom. If AIS customers were unaware of the change, and AIN's service quality was poor, they would blame CAT.

AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn denied the charge earlier this week, saying his company sent a short message to its customers informing them of the trial. However, it did not contact all 20 million customers.

After AIN tested its service from March 1-15, the "+" symbol reverted to CAT's network.

AIN charged customers who made international calls during its testing period, whether they dialled "+" or 005.

AIS has said that revenue from customers who made calls without being informed they were part of a test will be transferred to CAT Telecom.

AIN plans to operate its international calling service under an NTC licence, using the 005 prefix.

"The NTC office will look into details of both AIN and CAT," Suranan said.

The NTC also agreed to assign 1.5 million new mobile-phone numbers each to Total Access Communication (DTAC) and AIS. Both had applied for 3 million new phone numbers.

Earlier, DTAC's chief commercial officer, Thana Thienachariya, said delays in getting the new numbers might force DTAC to postpone plans for new promotions next month.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation