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Last Friday the board of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) assigned the case to the committee.

CAT took the case to the NTC after failing to reach a conclusion with AIS after several months of negotiations on the interconnection rates they would impose on each other.

The NTC's interconnection regulations require callers' networks to pay a fee to receivers' networks. This is aimed at preventing telecom operators from launching heavy-call promotions that could result in call-traffic congestion on each other's networks.

CAT's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1-x cellular network in 51 provinces proposed paying AIS an interconnection rate of 21 satang a minute. Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia proposed the same rate to AIS.

Hutch, a joint venture between CAT and Hong Kong telecom giant Hutchison Telecom, markets the CDMA service on a separate network in 25 provinces.

AIS proposed an interconnection rate of Bt1 a minute between AIS, CAT and Hutch. CAT's international-call network also proposed paying AIS an interconnection rate of 21 satang a minute, while AIS demanded Bt3 a minute.

Major private cellular operators want Hutch to comply with the interconnection regulations, alleging that its heavy call promotions have prompted call overloads in their networks. Hutch has denied that charge, arguing it has only a million subscribers.

Early this year, Hutch said its customers had encountered difficulty making outgoing calls to AIS customers. AIS responded by threatening to take Hutch before the NTC on charges of dumping call prices, which it said was affecting other networks.

In March Hutch asked the Civil Court for a temporary injunction preventing AIS from allegedly blocking calls from Hutch customers to the AIS network.

On May 8, AIS filed a counter-suit in the Civil Court against Hutch, with a claim of reputation damage of Bt45 billion.

AIS has also urged Hutch to comply with the NTC's interconnection regulations, in order to ensure a serious attempt to prevent possible call jams in the future.