AIS presses TOT to resolve dispute over access charges

Bangkok Post (15 November 2007)

Advanced Info Service will officially ask TOT Plc to reach a legal settlement on the long-standing access-charge dispute with mobile operators DTAC and True Move as the damage to the state telecom would grow the longer the issue remains unresolved.

The lack of a clear resolution has also prevented AIS from billing the two operators interconnection charges, which will reach three billion baht by the end of the year, said AIS president Wichien Mektrakarn. The company must take action because it wanted to have a clear-cut picture on access and interconnection charges, he added.

AIS signed interconnection agreements with both DTAC and True Move in February, but it has not been able to send interconnection bills to both companies. On the contrary, both DTAC and True Move have sent interconnection bills to AIS, he said.

AIS could not charge the two operators for interconnection fees because the company feared legal action from TOT, which may accuse the leading mobile phone operator of bypassing the state telecom's network to set up direct links with the networks of DTAC and True Move.

Mr Wichien said that so far AIS had expected to collect more than two billion baht in interconnection fees from DTAC and True Move. By year's end, the amount could reach three billion baht as net gains jumped to 400 million baht in certain months, he said.

Although TOT and CAT Telecom are damaged parties, they still have not taken legal action to demand money from DTAC and True Move. Mr Wichien said it was strange that the issue had dragged on for this long, and it seemed that TOT and CAT were not actively seeking a settlement.

Mr Wichien said that both DTAC and True Move rejected to pay access charges since the National Telecommunications Commission introduced interconnection charges to replace access charges last year.

DTAC has booked its interconnection charges as operating expenses, replacing access charges on its financial statement.

Both DTAC and True Move wanted AIS to clear all the billings to put pressure on TOT, which would stand to lose 20 billion baht a year immediately if AIS did so. Mr Wichien also said that AIS would send an official note to TOT stating the reasons why its subsidiary Digital Phone _ the mobile phone network operator of GMS 1800 and importer and distributor of mobile phone stopped paying access charges to TOT five months ago. He hopes the move would stimulate TOT to find a legal solution on access charges.

DPC ceased payments after DTAC and True Move stopped paying access charges to TOT in November last year. The note will say that DPC merely wanted to pressure TOT into resolving the access charge dispute, he said.