Access dispute to go to court
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has set up a joint committee of TOT and CAT Telecom, to work out a plan to file a lawsuit against Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move in the access-charge dispute.
TOT board director Vuthiphong Priebjrivat yesterday said the committee would conclude details of the plan by May 9.TOT says it has suffered Bt5 billion worth of losses since both cellular operators stopped paying the charge to TOT last November. DTAC says its overdue access charges up until last month amount to Bt3.6 billion. The access charge is what the three private cellular operators holding CAT concessions - DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone - paid to TOT for connecting different networks via TOT facilities. However, DTAC and True Move stopped paying it last November and have since paid only the interconnection charge introduced last May by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Both say they do not want to be burdened with both the interconnection charge and the access charge and must comply with the NTC's interconnection regulations. TOT has earned about Bt14 billion a year from access charges. The interconnection charge requires all telecom operators to share voice and data revenues between the networks involved in mobile-phone calls on a proportionate and bilateral basis. Telecom Reporters, The Nation
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