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Published on April 8, 2008

Internal Trade Department director-general Yangyong Phuangrach said the ministry was asking for more cooperation from all telecom firms to make cheaper SIM cards more available, because consumers were facing higher living costs.

Four telecom firms - Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC), True and Hutch - had previously agreed to produce 100,000 low-priced cards to be sold from this month to the end of the year.

AIS will produce 40,000 cards and DTAC 30,000. They will charge 50 satang a minute from 6am to 6pm and Bt2 per minute the rest of the time. True will produce 20,000 cards and collect a 50-satang fee from 6am to 5pm, while Hutch will produce 10,000 cards. However, most telecom companies say they are afraid they will be unable to provide more cards.

DTAC chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya said the government needed to consider whether the production of more low-priced cards would really benefit consumers.

"I think production of 100,000 is suitable for the current situation, because most SIM-card packages offer very low fees to attract consumers," he said, adding that the Commerce Ministry should pay more attention to the prices of necessities, in order to help consumers.

Mobile-phone calls are currently charged at a rate of about Bt1 per minute. There are about 50 million mobile-phone subscribers in Thailand.

Thana said if the ministry wanted more low-priced SIM-cards, the government would have to order TOT and CAT to reduce their call rates, as well, in order to help consumers throughout the whole system.

DTAC will sell its 30,000 cards from tomorrow, restricting sales to one per person to ensure wide distribution. Each DTAC shop, including J-Mart shops, will have 30-160 cards.

An AIS source said the company needed more details, because it had no plans yet about when to start distributing the cards. Before producing more cards, the company will have to observe customer reaction for a couple of months, in order to make sure it does not sustain a loss.

"The firm will immediately lose 50 satang a minute connecting to other networks as a result of this project," the source said, adding that the card would be available only at AIS shops, in order to prevent speculation.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation