Thai NBTC to relax per-second 4G billing condition
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Thailand’s telecoms regulator has relaxed an earlier directive requiring per-second billing for 4G services to only require operators to bill half of a service on a per-second basis.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s (NBTC) telecoms committee has decided to change the directive to no longer require operators to charge entirely on a per-second basis.
Although the initial per-second requirement was introduced May last year, the NBTC has yet to enforce it because it has proven unpopular with affected operators.
Operators have been resisting the move to per-second billing on the grounds that it would unfairly penalize customers that have signed up to fixed allocation or unlimited call or data plans, stating that charging per second would cost heavy usage customers more than the bucket plans.
The NBTC requirements would cap 4G tariff rates at 1.13 satang ($0.0003) per second. The requirements were a condition of the 4G mobile broadband licenses issued to AIS and TrueMove last year. Second-ranked Dtac is not required to comply.
AIS has reportedly warned that the company would have to abolish their existing tariff plans if the directive is enforced, while True Move is appealing the directive in court.
Questions & Answers
Q.Why did the NBTC originally introduce per-second billing for 4G services?
Why did the NBTC originally introduce per-second billing for 4G services?
The initial per-second billing requirement was a condition of the 4G mobile broadband licenses issued to AIS and TrueMove last year. It aimed to regulate tariff rates for these services.
Q.What was the main reason operators resisted the per-second billing directive?
What was the main reason operators resisted the per-second billing directive?
Operators resisted as they believed per-second billing would unfairly penalise customers on fixed allocation or unlimited plans. They argued it would increase costs for heavy users compared to existing bucket plans.
Q.Which mobile operator is not required to follow the NBTC's 4G billing conditions?
Which mobile operator is not required to follow the NBTC's 4G billing conditions?
Second-ranked operator Dtac is explicitly mentioned as not being required to comply with these 4G billing conditions. The requirements were specifically tied to licenses issued to AIS and TrueMove.
Q.How did AIS and TrueMove react to the original per-second billing directive?
How did AIS and TrueMove react to the original per-second billing directive?
AIS warned that they would have to abolish their existing tariff plans if the directive was enforced. TrueMove chose to appeal the directive in court rather than comply.
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