Tuesday, October 09, 2007

TOT, CAT urged to settle row

TOT, CAT urged to settle row
The Nation (9 October 2007)

The State Enterprise Policy Office has urged TOT and CAT Telecom jointly to seek a solution to their dispute regarding the access charge collected from private cellular operators. A letter recently sent to TOT said the office stated that the access-charge dispute had significantly affected the operations, image and interests of both TOT and CAT Telecom. The possible impact on related parties and the telecom industry as a whole must be considered when seeking a solution. Total Access Communication (DTAC) filed a complaint with the Finance Ministry, saying it was inappropriate for TOT to ask CAT to demand access-charge compensation from DTAC for TOT. CAT owns the concessions of DTAC, True Move and Digital Phone. DTAC and True Move stopped paying the access charge to TOT last November, and the combined amount now totals Bt8 billion. Both cellular operators have turned to comply instead with the interconnection regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission. TOT has asked CAT to claim the access charge for it, knowing that CAT can demand double the actual charge amount from them, in accordance with their concession agreement. TOT has earned Bt14 billion in access charges annually. The access charge is the cost that all of CAT's private cellular concessionaires have paid to the company for connecting different networks via TOT facilities.
As of August, TOT gained only Bt984 million from the network-access charge after DTAC and True Move stopped payments.

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