Interconnect rates need to be cut: NBTC

The move is the NBTC’s effort to reduce cellular call rates further, after the effect of its regulations capping the maximum mobile voice call tariff at average 99 satang per minute for domestic calls.

The regulations were published in the Royal Gazette on April 3.

NBTC commissioner Prawit Leesatapornwongsa said yesterday the committee had asked TrueMove to talk with Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Total Access Communication (DTAC) to seek ways to reduce the interconnection rate they bilaterally charge each other. If they fail to reach agreement, TrueMove can take the case to the NBTC.

The committee’s advice to TrueMove came after it asked NBTC to order all three major operators to adopt an interconnection rate of 50 satang per minute from the Bt1 per minute they mutually agreed on many years ago. But the committee thinks it is better to have TrueMove negotiate with both operators first, instead of ordering them.

The NBTC interconnection regulations mandate the callers’ networks pay to the network-of-call receivers at mutually agreed rates.

The now-defunct National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) also set the 50 satang per minute rate to be adopted by those failing to reach the rate agreement by themselves. The three operators agreed with CAT Telecom networks on the rate of 50 satang a minute.

TrueMove earlier talked with AIS and DTAC to switch to 50 satang per minute. But AIS and DTAC disagreed, given three of them reached the agreement at Bt1 per minute a long time ago. If they have to adopt a new rate, they must renegotiate on actual cost, which might not end at 50 satang per minute.

NBTC regulations for a maximum voice call rate apply to only AIS and DTAC, as they were classified as significant market players (SMPs) in the cellular industry last year by the NTC. An SMP is one with more than 25 per cent market share. Therefore, their new call packages to be launched from now on must comply with the regulations. Their existing call packages with call rate over 99 satang per minute can remain until December 31.

Prawit added that the cellular operators still had flexibility to offer some packages such as one charging Bt2 for the first three minutes of a call, as that would not average out at more than 99 satang per minute.

AIS chief executive officer Wichien Mektrakarn said the company was ready to comply with the regulations. He added that AIS’s average call rate was 70 satang per minute.

According to an NBTC study, the average call fee for DTAC during the first nine months of last year was 76 satang per minute, followed by TrueMove at 67 satang and AIS at 54 satang.