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Published on February 20, 2008

The performance was due mainly to its booking of net interconnection revenue for the first time in last year's fourth quarter.

AIS booked interconnection revenue of about Bt1.3 billion after adopting the interconnection regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) earlier last year.

The move follows a query by the Revenue Department about why AIS had not booked its interconnection gains, which are part of corporate revenue liable for tax payment next month.

AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS had to book the revenue or else risk generating conflict with the Revenue Department.

AIS had declined to book its interconnection revenue for the first nine months of 2007, given that the concession owner TOT had opposed the interconnection regulations set by the NTC. This was despite the fact that AIS, Total Access Communication and True Move had adopted the interconnection regulations early last year.

The interconnection regulations require all telecom operators to share voice and data revenue between their networks proportionally.

But the largest cellular operator changed its stance and decided it had to comply with the regulations, informing TOT of its decision.

AIS weighed all of the risk factors stemming from not booking the revenue, and after consulting with its Legal Department, it finally decided to book it, Wichian said.

One telecom-industry analyst predicts AIS will receive gross interconnection revenue of Bt1 billion this year. AIS's share price yesterday closed at Bt105, up from Bt103 a day earlier.

TOT decided to oppose the NTC regulations after Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move stopped paying it access charges and adopted the interconnection regulations instead.

Before that, TOT had received combined access payments of Bt14 billion a year from True Move, DTAC and Digital Phone, all holders of concessions from CAT Telecom. The payments are for connecting their different networks via TOT's facilities.

TOT recently filed a civil lawsuit to recover the combined overdue access charges from the cellular operators.

Last August, the state agency also asked the Central Administrative Court to revoke the interconnection regulations.

TOT advised AIS it should wait for the lower court's ruling on the case before making a decision. It added that if AIS decided to comply with the NTC's regulations before the court's ruling, AIS would have to take full responsibility for any adverse effects.

Shin Corp owns 42.73 per cent of AIS and Singapore Telecom 19.21 per cent. Singapore's state investment arm, Temasek Holdings, owns more than 96 per cent of Shin.

Telecom Reporters

The Nation