The national telecom regulator is considering taking back and reallocating some of the three-digit telephone numbers being used by CAT Telecom Plc and TOT Plc to provide international calls.

Yesterday, the board of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) approved the assignment of one three-digit number - 005 - to AIS International Network so it can offer an overseas call service that the commission has already licensed.

NTC commissioner Sudharma Yoonaidharma said both CAT Telecom and TOT own too many three-digit numbers for offering international calling services, and the NTC would decide whether to take some of them back within the next month or two.

The Telecom Act empowers the NTC to allocate phone numbers on an equal basis, he said.

TOT has used the numbers 002, 003, 007, and 008 for providing international calling services, while CAT has used 001, 004, and 009.

"In principle, one international-call operator should have only one three-digit-phone number for providing the service," Sudharma said.

Currently, the licensing body has only one three-digit number left - 006 - to offer to new overseas calling operators after allocating the number 005 to AIS International.

AIS International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the country's largest cellular operator, Advanced Info Service (AIS), was formed specifically to apply to the NTC for a licence to operate an international calling service.

The NTC has granted its licence in principle and has asked AIS International to supply more details of its qualifications within a certain period.

AIS recently approved additional investment in AIS International, to lift its registered capital from Bt1 million to Bt200 million and its paid-up capital from Bt1 million to Bt100 million.

The NTC charges Bt12 million per month for every three-digit telephone number.

Yesterday the NTC also approved a regulation for awarding a type-3 licence to operators of international Internet gateways (IIG) and domestic exchange gateways. The regulation will be published in the Royal Gazette soon.

A type-3 IIG licence will enable operators to connect their networks directly with a foreign network carrier to provide an international Internet connection service to local Internet service providers.

Sky Office, which is the owner of a type-2 IIG licence, has  to connect with foreign carriers

via the facilities of either TOT or CAT to provide its IIG service.

In a related matter, AIS cellular subsidiary Digital Phone Co has returned 300,000

unsubscribed phone numbers to the NTC, in order to save on the phone-number fee that is due next month, a telecom-industry source said.

When the NTC introduces its numbering plan next month, all telecom operators will have to pay fees for their existing phone numbers to the commission, which charges Bt1 per number per month.