Cost of 'porting' phone numbers may be cut

Suranan Wongvithayakam-jorn, secretary-general of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), made the remark yesterday at the last public hearing on draft regulations for mobile-number portability.

The regulations will provide mobile-phone subscribers with the right to use their existing numbers with the new networks they switch to.

This will encourage cellular operators to provide better service in order to maintain their subscriber base.

Participants in the NTC's four hearings on the draft regulations voiced a common complaint that the fee of Bt300 for "porting" numbers to the new networks as mentioned in the draft regulations is too high. Some suggested the NTC waive the charge.

Recently the cellular operators proposed to the NTC to determine the fee by basing it on the cost of the cellular operators involved in the porting, which is expected to be lower than Bt300.

Some consumers in the hearings also disagreed with the regulations that require them to stay with a new network for at least 60 days before switching to another network, saying that they should be free to migrate to any network anytime they wanted.

The NTC intends to publicise the final regulations at the end of the year and put them into effect at the end of next year.

There are more than 50 million mobile-phone users in Thailand.