World Dialogue on Regulation

"We've introduced several regulations during the past two years but cannot effectively enforce all of them," NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck said.

The NTC recently ordered its administrative office to develop procedures to ensure the enforcement of all regulations Sethaporn said. He added that a number of regulations lack details to ensure telecom operators’ compliance.

Noppadol Dej-udom, an executive at True, said that the NTC's conditions for applying for additional phone numbers were impractical. One condition is that operators can request additional phone numbers once they had only 50,000 phone numbers left in their systems. He said that in general, mobile operators could sell 50,000 phone numbers in one day.

Sethaporn also said the NTC is uncertain whether it could develop a licensing plan for the satellite sector, because satellites could be used to provide broadcasting services. The Council of State said the NTC could continue its spectrum activities during the absence of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), as long as such activities did not involve broadcast spectrum. The Frequency Allocation Act mandates that the NTC and the NBC jointly allocate telecom and broadcasting spectrum.

Sethaporn said the NTC was drafting new rates for telecom spectrum and a plan to take back idle spectrum for reallocation. Moreover, the NTC is considering giving away fixed-line licenses or granting them at a discount to applicants, in order to promote that business.

Source: Thai News Service - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News