TELECOMS CHARGES
TOT sends out signal on access fees
Could ask CAT to maintain status quo to protect revenue
In a move that would safeguard its revenues from the fees it charges private concessionaires of CAT Telecom Plc to access its network, TOT Plc may ask CAT to make the soon-to-be imposed interconnection fee equivalent to the access fees it now charges. The upside of the proposal for CAT concessionaires, a TOT official said, is that they would not have to pay both the access charges and the upcoming interconnection charges to TOT. "We will propose to CAT that we want to call the access charge an interconnection charge," said the official, who declined to be named. Some CAT concessionaires plan to ask TOT to revoke the access charge once the interconnection fees are imposed. All CAT concessionaires now pay access charges to TOT to connect to other networks through it. The monthly fee is Bt200 for each post-paid subscriber, while an 18-per-cent fee is charged for prepaid use. Advanced Info Service Plc, the top mobile phone service, is exempt from the access charges because it is a TOT concessionaire. New regulations setting inter-con-nection charges are expected from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) this month. They will require all telecom operators to share voice and data revenues between their networks. The NTC is waiting for concession owners TOT and CAT, which are also its licensees, to propose a benchmark for the interconnection fee. The TOT official said if CAT agrees with its proposal they will be able to avoid the complex process of monitoring outgoing and incoming calls between networks in order to calculate inter-connection fees. CAT concessionaire Total Access Communication, or DTAC, opposes the proposal. Sigve Brekke, DTAC's chief executive, said the access charge was unrelated to the interconnection charge and TOT should not mix up the two. "We are waiting for the interconnection charge regulations to come out from the NTC. This fee will be the same for all operators. When all this is implemented, then we can talk about the access charge," Brekke said.
Telecom Reporters The Nation
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