NTC approves CAT interconnection

The Nation (19 December 2007)

State agency still needs to agree on a deal for charges with other operators

The board of the national telecom regulator approved the interconnection plan of CAT Telecom on Monday, which set in motion the state agency's entry into the new regulatory framework.

But it remains to be seen whether CAT can reach agreement on bilateral interconnection charge rates with telecom operators, due to its plan to pay a low interconnection rate.

National Telecommunica-tions Commission (NTC) chairman Choochart Phromprasid yesterday said the approval meant the state agency was the latest telecom operator to enter the regulatory scheme.

As the next step, CAT will enter into negotiations with telecom operators on bilateral interconnection charge rates.

The NTC imposed the regulations last November, requiring all telecom operators to bilaterally share voice and data revenue between the networks involved in calls on a fair basis.

According to its interconnection details, CAT plans to pay the origination and termination rates at the same 21 satang per minute. The origination rate is what CAT will pay to the networks that originate calls via its overseas call network.

The termination rate is for CAT and its joint venture cellular service marketer Hutchison-CAT to pay to the networks that receive their calls.

Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communi-cation (DTAC) and True Move, which signed bilateral interconnection rate deals late last year, have charged each other Bt1 per minute on average for the termination rate.

Currently, CAT shares Bt3 per minute of the revenue with the networks that originate calls via its conventional overseas call network, and Bt1.50 per minute for calls via its overseas call Internet Protocol network.

A telecom-industry source said it would be difficult for CAT to reach bilateral interconnection deals with the three cellular operators when all three have paid and receive the high termination rate of about Bt1 per minute.

They are concerned that if Hutch can pay the low termination rate, it will continue launching heavy promotions, given that it does not have to be burdened with the high interconnection-charge rate and that will prompt heavy Hutch call traffic on their networks, the source added.
DTAC chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya said the CAT termination rate was unacceptably low. A source at CAT, however, said the calculation was based on the agency's actual business cost.

Thana added that if the cellular operators and CAT could not reach satisfactory agreements on rates, the NTC would intervene and impose interim rates for them.

Recently, DTAC filed a complaint to the NTC that Hutch's call promotions dumped 33 million minutes of call traffic per week on its network, while DTAC sent back only 16 million minutes of traffic per week. The NTC has yet to make a ruling on the matter.

Hutch has about 80,000 customers, while DTAC has more than 16 million

Government urged to stimulate local growth

Bangkok Post (19 December 2007)

The new government must move quickly to stimulate the domestic economy to help business operators, said Santi Vilassakdanont, the chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries.

The FTI estimated that domestic consumption expanded by only 1-2% this year, and made a minor contribution to the Thai economy. He urged the next government to concentrate on stimulating local consumption.

''The programme should be focusing on promoting new investments in order to increase liquidity in the Thai economy,'' Mr Santi said yesterday.

Political stability would be a key factor in promoting investment in the country, he said, as industrialists are reluctant to expand even though their capacity utilisation rates are as high 90%.

He said the industrial confidence index had risen slightly to 82.3 points in November from 81.9 the previous month, driven by hopes that the political environment would stabilise.

Further investment in petrochemical expansion on the Eastern Seaboard and in megaprojects would improve the investment climate and stimulate consumption, he said.

The Board of Investment (BoI) has granted investment privileges for 1,241 projects worth 662 billion baht in the first 11 months of this year.

The FTI predicted that growth in the industrial sector in 2008 would be on par with 2007 at 7% if GDP grows by 4.5% to 5%.

However, industrialists will still face the challenge of high oil prices and other fuel costs.

Although the domestic market has stalled, the export sector is forecast to expand by 16% to US$150.5 billion in 2007 and is projected to grow by 10-12.5% to reach between $165.6 billion and $169.4 billion in 2008.

Reflecting slow local demand were auto sales, where exports outpaced local sales for the first time, said Surapong Paisitpatnapong, a spokesman for the FTI's automotive industry club.

Revenue from car and motorcycle exports in the first 11 months of the year was 433.89 billion baht, up 25.63% from 345.38 billion baht in the same period a year earlier.

Mr Surapong said export revenue next year would continue to outpace domestic sales value.
Total car production in the first 11 months of this year expanded by 7.85% to 1.18 million units from 1.10 million units last year.

NTC approves CAT interconnection

The Nation (19 December 2007)

State agency still needs to agree on a deal for charges with other operators

The board of the national telecom regulator approved the interconnection plan of CAT Telecom on Monday, which set in motion the state agency's entry into the new regulatory framework.

But it remains to be seen whether CAT can reach agreement on bilateral interconnection charge rates with telecom operators, due to its plan to pay a low interconnection rate.

National Telecommunica-tions Commission (NTC) chairman Choochart Phromprasid yesterday said the approval meant the state agency was the latest telecom operator to enter the regulatory scheme.

As the next step, CAT will enter into negotiations with telecom operators on bilateral interconnection charge rates.

The NTC imposed the regulations last November, requiring all telecom operators to bilaterally share voice and data revenue between the networks involved in calls on a fair basis.

According to its interconnection details, CAT plans to pay the origination and termination rates at the same 21 satang per minute. The origination rate is what CAT will pay to the networks that originate calls via its overseas call network.

The termination rate is for CAT and its joint venture cellular service marketer Hutchison-CAT to pay to the networks that receive their calls.

Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communi-cation (DTAC) and True Move, which signed bilateral interconnection rate deals late last year, have charged each other Bt1 per minute on average for the termination rate.

Currently, CAT shares Bt3 per minute of the revenue with the networks that originate calls via its conventional overseas call network, and Bt1.50 per minute for calls via its overseas call Internet Protocol network.

A telecom-industry source said it would be difficult for CAT to reach bilateral interconnection deals with the three cellular operators when all three have paid and receive the high termination rate of about Bt1 per minute.

They are concerned that if Hutch can pay the low termination rate, it will continue launching heavy promotions, given that it does not have to be burdened with the high interconnection-charge rate and that will prompt heavy Hutch call traffic on their networks, the source added.

DTAC chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya said the CAT termination rate was unacceptably low. A source at CAT, however, said the calculation was based on the agency's actual business cost.

Thana added that if the cellular operators and CAT could not reach satisfactory agreements on rates, the NTC would intervene and impose interim rates for them.

Recently, DTAC filed a complaint to the NTC that Hutch's call promotions dumped 33 million minutes of call traffic per week on its network, while DTAC sent back only 16 million minutes of traffic per week. The NTC has yet to make a ruling on the matter.

Hutch has about 80,000 customers, while DTAC has more than 16 million.