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Published on September 14, 2007

A source at the state agency said subscribers would be offered the choice of three different monthly rates: Bt195, Bt350 and Bt399. They can make free calls to any fixed-line networks but will pay Bt1 a minute to connect to mobile phones. After the monthly fee is used up, they will be charged an additional fee of Bt1 a minute for calls to mobile phones.

The source said the first two rates were for light call-users. The third one, which is for the mass residential market, is expected to attract 75,000 new subscribers this year.

TOT posted a first-half net profit of Bt2.86 billion, a sharp drop from Bt4.47 billion in the same period last year. Its main fixed-line telephone service generated revenue of Bt7.46 billion in the first half, down from Bt8.6 billion in the same period last year.

The source said TOT was waiting for its board to approve a plan to upgrade its minimum Internet-access speed from 256 kilobits per second for Bt500 a month to 1 megabit a second for a monthly fee of Bt590. Many other Internet service providers have already made similar moves to attract new customers.

TOT's broadband-Internet service generated Bt1.079 billion in the first half of the year, a jump from Bt469 million in the same period last year.

TOT director Djitt Laowattana said the board was working at full capacity to defend the state agency's interests and was focused on good governance.

Earlier this week, TOT's labour union questioned a decision by management to procure a broadband network without a bidding process. The union alleged that TOT chose to negotiate only with Chinese telecom equipment vendor ZTE for supply of the network.

Djitt yesterday said TOT had been forced to take this course because of an urgent need to expand its broadband service to boost revenue.

 Usanee Mongkolporn

 The Nation