TOT seeks legal ruling on new fees : DTAC, True to sue if numbers blocked

TOT seeks legal ruling on new fees : DTAC, True to sue if numbers blocked.

KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA & SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN

The board of TOT Plc agreed yesterday to seek an opinion on access charges and interconnections fees from the Council of State, a government legal advisory body, before the state-run firm allows three million new DTAC and True Move mobile phone numbers to use its fixed network. The action prompted the two operators, which are both under CAT Telecom concessions, to petition the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) before suing TOT to allow the new numbers to access the network.

Vice Admiral Thomrat Hatayodom, a TOT spokesman, said the board's decision to seek a ruling from the Council of State came after it discussed the recent decision by DTAC and True Move to stop paying access charges to TOT and switch to interconnection charges instead.

While it waits for a response, TOT will hold up connections for the three million new numbers because the mobile companies still have 26% of their old numbers unused, he said.

But DTAC chief marketing officer Thana Tien-archariya said that delaying connections for new numbers would only hurt DTAC and True Move's marketing campaigns, while market leader Advanced Info Service would benefit because it can sell new numbers. DTAC had planned to start marketing its 1.5 million new numbers on Monday. If it cannot proceed with those plans, Mr Thana added, the company would petition the NTC and also seek court action against TOT.

Both DTAC and True Move have stuck by plans to replace access charge payments with interconnection charges, starting with the billing cycle that begins on Jan 17.

Earlier, the ICT minister supported both DTAC and True Move's efforts to take legal action to end the dispute.

Sigve Brekke, the chief executive of DTAC, said his company would file a legal suit against TOT next week. It will also seek compensation from TOT for potential business losses.

DTAC needs to start selling its 1.5 million new numbers on Monday due to the shortage of numbers in the market, he said.

''I don't understand why TOT has put its customers on the stake. DTAC customers can still call TOT numbers while TOT users will be not allowed to call our customers,'' he said.

Mr Brekke also dismissed a proposal from ICT minister Sitthichai Pokai-udom for both DTAC and True Move to suspend the sales of the numbers and wait for the Council of State's resolution.

''We have already suspended the sale of our new numbers for more than 1.5 months,'' he said.

''It is impossible to wait longer as it is our right based on the fact that we already paid one baht per number per month.''

Supachai Chearavanont, the chief executive of True Move, said TOT had no right to block the new numbers from its fixed-line networks as it was illegal.

He urged the NTC and the ICT ministry to take legal action to find a resolution, or revoke TOT's licences.

Mr Supachai said the first billing cycle of True Move on the interconnection charges with TOT was likely to exceed the costs of access charges that True Move initially pays TOT.

But Mr Brekke said his company's bills with TOT would be smaller than its access charge payments.

He added that DTAC was preparing to fight back against TOT, with the planned introduction of an aggressive promotion to attract TOT customers to use its mobile-phone service instead.

Bangkok Post
Friday January 12, 2007