ACCESS CHARGE ROW : DTAC ready to sue TOT

ACCESS CHARGE ROW : DTAC ready to sue TOT

Cellular firm prepared to act if agency doesn't accept new numbers by Monday

Total Access Commu-nication (DTAC) is threatening to file a lawsuit against TOT if the state agency does not accept an additional 1.5 million phone numbers from DTAC into its network before Monday.

DTAC CEO Sigve Brekke said yesterday his company would release the additional 1.5 million mobile numbers into the market on Monday and, before then, will try to persuade TOT to avoid a legal battle.

TOT is declining to integrate into its network the new mobile-phone numbers from DTAC and a similar number from True Move on the grounds that the companies have not paid their access charges.

Brekke said DTAC, the country's second-largest cellular operator, would pay a quarterly interconnection charge to TOT, which is due on Wednesday, instead of paying the access charge as in the past. It will pay the interconnection charge at a rate of Bt1.25 per minute, instead of the access charge at Bt8 per minute.

Up to now, the access charge has been paid to TOT by private cellular firms operating on concessions from CAT Telecom, including DTAC and True Move, for connecting calls to other networks via its facilities. However, DTAC and True Move both say they now want to pay only the interconnection charge, fixed under new regulations that require all telecom operators to share voice revenues between the two networks involved in a call.

A telecom company needs all other operators to integrate its new numbers into their switching systems, so that the numbers can be recognised by other networks. TOT's refusal to register new numbers from DTAC and True Move means calls from other networks will not reach the new numbers if the calls are relayed through TOT's network.

The National Telecommunica-tions Commission (NTC) has already ordered TOT to accept the two cellular operators' additional numbers by Wednesday or face possible punishment in the form of a fine or loss of its telecom licence. The commission will meet representatives from TOT to hear the state agency's reasons for not accepting the additional numbers.

DTAC is calculating the fine it will demand from TOT for declining to accept its additional phone numbers, Brekke said.

A recent resolution by TOT's board said the company should seek an order from the Central Administrative Court terminating the NTC's interconnection regulations, which have now been adopted by all major cellular operators.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation
Thursday January 11, 2007