Let’s not take our eyes off the ball
There are times when you have to worry about how “free” our elected politicians should be or how much they should be reined in, and there are times when your worries should focus solely on your phone bills. I mean, many people outside the political sphere
Phone, Internet and cable TV expenses are such underrated issues nowadays, although they should top our priority list when it comes to “taking a stand”. Fighting for the well-being of politicians is all right, but we mustn’t forget to fight for our own pockets, too.
“Justice” is when telecom fees are proper or sensible. By that, both customers and the telecom firms should be happy. “Equality” is when both the rich and the poor get equal access to services. “Democracy” is when a political system is able to make such justice and equality happen.
With online data services now heavily linked to how “smart” a nation can be, the word “telecom” no longer carries that luxurious undertone. It’s one thing to charge rich families owning iPhones or iPads a lot of money every month; it’s another if poor kids searching for knowledge on the Internet have to be deterred by the hefty fees that their parents have to shoulder.
This is where the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has to come in. The constitutional panel owes its very existence to the notion that telecom frequencies belong to all Thais. The commission’s duty and responsibility are far greater than selling expensive licences to the top operators. The NBTC’s main obligation is to get all Thais cheap, efficient and equal access to telecom services.
There are a few statistics to consider. At the end of March this year, the number of mobile-phone subscribers was about 85 million. Their average monthly pay was about Bt500-Bt600 for those charged after use, and about Bt100-Bt200 for prepaid customers. The whole telecom industry’s 2015 capital expenditure, excluding licence costs, were a combined Bt68 billion. Marketing costs in an industry dominated by three major service providers have been ballooning, a situation that is a double-edged sword when customers are concerned. While the fierce competition can lead to “attractive packages” to woo users, telecom firms normally pass on a lot of the financial burden incurred on promotional expenses to the subscribers.
And the competition costs will keep rising, meaning there is a need to pay closer attention to customers’ rights. For a family of three or four that earns about Bt40,000 or a bit more a month, a telecom bill of Bt500 or Bt1,000 can be a big deal. Added to that is the high possibility of all family members having a mobile phone each, making the telecom usage a considerable financial burden.
All telecom companies are reporting rise in the usage of “data services”. This shows that payments are not covering just telephone calls presently. People are using their smartphones for entertainment, social media engagement and online consumption depending on their preferences. Of course, more and more children are playing online games, but there are those who use their phones to enrich their knowledge as well.
The NBTC is both the regulator and facilitator. It has to regulate an industry whose key players are very wealthy and powerful, and facilitate a fair distribution of the “national asset” to all Thais. There may be many things questionable about Thailand’s recent constitutions, but they all are absolutely right on one thing: Telecom frequencies belong to all Thais, not just the rich.
On the one hand, the telecom landscape is too dynamic to be handled exclusively by the state. Those old enough still remember the time when they had to wait months after applying to the government to have fixed telephone lines installed in their homes. Now, this very landscape is becoming more and more important in providing a basic utility and promoting national education.
Considering what ordinary customers are charged every month, something is not quite right. Feel-good telecom commercials can’t hide the fact that a lot of people are getting unfairly left behind. Changes have to be made but privatisation, obviously, cannot be the answer. The buck stops with the NBTC, which is still found wanting on the crucial matter of giving all Thais equal access to what they are entitled to.
The NBTC should do whatever it must, and so must we. It’s all right to debate whether the would-be new constitution is fair, particularly to people who won’t have problems paying a few thousand baht a month on telecom services. But that is anything but the ball that we should keep our eyes on.
