(Bangkok Post via NewsEdge) Thai mobile operator DTAC has urged TOT to enter into interconnection agreements with private operators following a decision by a dispute-resolution committee studying the issue.
The committee said that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should order the state telecom enterprise to enter into talks with DTAC for an interconnection agreement, after the second-ranked operator petitioned the committee on February 13.
It also said that DTAC had the right to enter into an interconnection agreement with TOT.
Sigve Brekke, the CEO of DTAC, said TOT must comply with the decision, and should be punished if it remains opposed to the system.
Brekke added that the ruling marked an important enforcement step that would lead to a level playing field for the whole industry.
He said DTAC was willing to pay 25% more in interconnection charges to TOT than it paid to other private operators.
Interconnection fees are the amounts operators charge each other for handling calls across their networks. TOT adamantly opposes the system because it earns about 14 billion baht ($429 million) a year in access charges and concession revenue-sharing payments and believes it would earn much less under the new system.
DTAC and True Move, which are both under CAT Telecom concessions, stopped paying access charges of 200 baht ($6.1) per prepaid subscriber per month to TOT on November 17 last year and switched to interconnection charges instead.
© 2007 Bangkok Post
© 2007 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved