NBTC changes post-concession plan for True, DPC customers
Play
THE entity that takes over the cellular services of True Move and Digital Phone Co (DPC) after their concessions expire will pay part of the revenue it gains directly to the state, rather than to the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commissio
The sudden change was prompted by concerns that the original licence-fee idea could not be supported by any existing law. The office did not have time to change that section of its draft plan for the post-concession regime before a public hearing set for today, so it will make the proposal at the hearing itself, said NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit.
The draft plan affects 17 million cellular customers using the 1,800-megahertz spectrum under the True Move-DPC concessions, which expire on September 15.
Questions
According to the current draft plan, the NBTC will assign a certain entity to take care of these customers for one year after September 15.
This party would have been required to pay part of the revenue it gained from serving these customers as a licence fee. However, telecom and legal experts have questioned whether there is any law to legitimise such a fee collection under these circumstances.
Takorn said these critics were right – there is no law supporting the original plan. Therefore, the NBTC office will recommend that the revenue derived by the overseeing entity, after expenses, be passed directly to the Finance Ministry.
He said there had been no time for the NBTC office to revise this original draft before putting it to the hearing, so it will propose this new idea in the hearing. Time is also running out for the customers themselves, as September 15 is fast approaching.
“We have to hurry to deal with this case,” Takorn said.
Overseer’s expenses
The NBTC office will ask the commission’s telecom committee to appoint a task group comprising representatives from the Finance Ministry and the Office of the Attorney-General and other relevant parties to what expenses the post-concession overseeing entity will face.
CAT Telecom granted the 1,800MHz spectrum to TrueMove and DPC to operate cellular services. The NBTC office advised CAT last Friday to return the spectrum for reallocation by the commission.
It has also told both companies to start sending text messages to all their customers advising them that they will be able to continue using the services for another year after the contracts end on September 15.
