Interconnection charge talks set for this week

Chief finance officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong said CAT would talk to advanced Info Service (AIS), True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC).

The interconnection regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission require the networks of the callers to pay a fee to the network of the call-receivers.

CAT has gradually launched the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) service in 51 provinces under the CAT CDMA brand and plans to take over the separate CDMA network of its joint venture Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia in 25 provinces for Bt6 billion.

CAT earlier proposed to pay the interconnection fee of 21 satang per minute for its CDMA service and that of Hutch to the major cellular operators, but they refused, saying the rate was too low.

AIS, DTAC and True Move have paid each other the interconnection rate of Bt1 per minute on a bilateral basis.

Cellular operators believe that Hutch can offer heavy call promotions and prompt call jams on their networks because it is free of the interconnection-fee burden. Hutch counters that it has only 1 million subscribers.

The CAT CDMA network targets 180,000 subscribers, up from the present 80,000, and Bt600 million revenue this year. Like Hutch, CAT service touts low voice and data tariffs as a quick lure to new subscribers.

Jirayuth said CAT would spend Bt100 million this year on the marketing and branding strategy of its CDMA service. The state agency opened its first shop in Chiang Mai last week.