Total Access Communication (DTAC) will withdraw its suit against TOT from the Central Administrative Court, in which it claimed compensation now worth Bt100 million over their phone-number connection dispute.

DTAC CEO Sigve Brekke yesterday said the withdrawal was in return for TOT's move to enable the connection of its new mobile-phone numbers with TOT's fixed-line customers.

"We'll withdraw the case this month," Brekke said after meeting with TOT's board yesterday.

In January, DTAC filed a lawsuit against TOT over the dispute and demanded more than Bt73 million in compensation from the state agency. The compensation, plus interest, has since reached about Bt100 million.

The dispute began when TOT refused to integrate 1.5 million new phone numbers from DTAC into its network, citing its refusal to pay TOT access charges.

A telecom company needs all other operators to integrate - or, in technical terms, "translate" - its new numbers into their switching systems so that the numbers are recognised by other networks.

TOT's refusal to do so meant calls from its fixed-line phones would not reach DTAC's new numbers. Later TOT integrated the additional 1.5 million phone numbers for DTAC, following a court injunction.

The access charge is a cost that private cellular concessionaires of CAT Telecom have paid to TOT for connecting their subscribers' calls to other networks via TOT's facilities. CAT's concessionaires include DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone.

The interconnection charge, introduced recently by the National Telecommunications Commission, requires all operators to share revenues from voice and data calls between their networks on a fair basis.

DTAC and True Move want to pay only the interconnection charge, instead of paying both the access and interconnection fees.

DTAC stopped paying the access charge on November 17, 2006. Its overdue access charge up until last month is valued at Bt3.6 billion, according to Brekke.

DTAC also told TOT to file a case against it at the court.

DTAC chief commercial officer Thana Tienachariya said the company would also open a bank guarantee or an escrow account to show its readiness to pay the access charge to TOT if it loses the access-charge case.

The value of the bank guarantee or escrow account will be half of the overdue access-charge value of DTAC's additional numbers, he added.

Currently DTAC has more than 12 million customers.

It recently gained 1.5 million additional phone numbers from the NTC and will soon gain a

similar amount from the commission.

TOT spokesman Vuthiphong Priebjrivat said TOT had to consult with CAT Telecom first over whether they would file an access charge against DTAC.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation