Big budget for telecom institute raises doubts
A telecom expert yesterday expressed doubts over the big budget proposed for the upcoming Telecommunications Consumer Protection Institute.
Anupap Tiralap said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should not set "too huge" an administrative budget for its institute. He was speaking on the first day of a seminar on the institute's establishment, hosted by the NTC. The seminar ends today. The independent institute will be up and running next year, and the NTC will allocate the institute's budget once every two years. The budget for each of the first two years will be not more than one-eighth and not less than 8 per cent of the NTC's annual revenues. This year, the NTC expects to collect regulatory fees of Bt2 billion. For the third to sixth years, the budget will be not more than one-third and not less than 25 per cent of NTC revenues. From the seventh year onwards, the budget will be not more than half and not less than 40 per cent of the regulator's annual revenues. Anupap said the telecom watchdog should set the budget in accordance with the institute's actual needs as proposed on a yearly basis instead of tying funding directly to its annual revenues. NTC member Sudharma Yoonaidharma said the budget procedure for the institute followed international practice and that the next National Telecommunications Commission could revise the budget if it were considered to be inappropriate.
Usanee Mongkolporn The Nation
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