Rucharee

Huh, I wonder why they have been talking about 3G for years and nothing ever happens. Could this be the reason: "The Finance Ministry has already recommended the NTC increase the 3G annual licence fee from the present 6 per cent to 12.5 per cent, as well as create a level playing-field among the 2G and 3G players." The Finance Ministry owns TOT (Telephone Of Thailand) and CAT possibly the largest Internet Service Provider in Thailand. Plus they need the current contracts holders of 2G to terminate their contracts "by mutual consents, Mr Korn said."

To quote two other recent articles: "The Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent of TOT and CAT Telecom. It is working out the details of the concession conversion plan. One option isto covert the existing private telecom concessions under TOT and CAT into NTC licences with 15 year terms, the same term as for the 3G licence. It wants to see the conversion completed before the NTC grants the 3G licences. Many parties have said that the 3G licences will financially affect TOT and CAT by paving the way for private concession holders that obtain 3G licences to migrate customers from the high regulatory cost concessions to the lower regulatory cost licences.The overall licence cost will account for 6 per cent of the licence holders' annual revenue, while the concession fee costs private concession holders around 25 per cent of their annual revenue."

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Wednesdayordered all mobile-phone operators July 14 not to charge different rates forcalls within ("on-net") and outside ("off-net") their ownnetworks. Mobile-phone operators have launched on-net rate promotionsfeaturing lower call charges than the off-net rate, to encourage their users tomake calls within their own providers' networks. This is to avoid paying thelarge interconnection fee between different networks.NTC regulations require the caller's network to pay the interconnection fee to the network of the call recipient. The more an operator's subscribers call different networks, the more it has to pay ininterconnection fees."

Why bother, why doesn't the Finance Ministry just own and run all telecommunications in Thailand. It sure looks like they want to... Or at least make the most they can out of it. At this rate when will there ever be 4G here?

And in plain English?

I am confused.

It's all about money! The Finance Ministry wants more... In essence they want to increase our rates to call or use a G3 network. Another tax increase on the public.

OK, I get it.

So what is wrong with paying more for a newer model/ technology.

Would you pay the same for a brand new toyota camry, and a 1999 model?

Are you willing to cede those two structures , Preah Vehear is not simply Siamese , the temple happens to be a 900 year old HINDU temple , there are many more across both Cambodia and Thailand .

http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/banknotes/thailand/ThailandP86-500Baht-%281975-88%29-donatedth_b.jpg

If it is not Siamese, why would such architecture be printed in Thai currency (see above link)?

For example, would be be funny if Chinese bank notes have Hadrian Wall rather that the Great Wall?

The democrats have a lot of big money people to fund them. And these people have a lot more money than the PTP backers, but wont part with it. Part of one of the allegations they are defending is that some of the money went directly to party members. If this is true why do they not give it back! And what of all the extra donations they have been acquiring in the last 3 months, they could hire Robert Amsterdam to defend them with that money. Or they could just do what the DP, PTP, BJT, etc have been alledged of doing, use government funds. I do not envy the voters in some countries it is not a case of picking the worst of a bad bunch, it is the case of picking an evil one amongst the devils.

What makes you think that Robert Amsterdamis not taking money from both side?

I would.

Huh, I wonder why they have been talking about 3G for years and nothing ever happens. Could this be the reason: "The Finance Ministry has already recommended the NTC increase the 3G annual licence fee from the present 6 per cent to 12.5 per cent, as well as create a level playing-field among the 2G and 3G players." The Finance Ministry owns TOT (Telephone Of Thailand) and CAT possibly the largest Internet Service Provider in Thailand. Plus they need the current contracts holders of 2G to terminate their contracts "by mutual consents, Mr Korn said."

To quote two other recent articles: "The Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent of TOT and CAT Telecom. It is working out the details of the concession conversion plan. One option isto covert the existing private telecom concessions under TOT and CAT into NTC licences with 15 year terms, the same term as for the 3G licence. It wants to see the conversion completed before the NTC grants the 3G licences. Many parties have said that the 3G licences will financially affect TOT and CAT by paving the way for private concession holders that obtain 3G licences to migrate customers from the high regulatory cost concessions to the lower regulatory cost licences.The overall licence cost will account for 6 per cent of the licence holders' annual revenue, while the concession fee costs private concession holders around 25 per cent of their annual revenue."

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Wednesdayordered all mobile-phone operators July 14 not to charge different rates forcalls within ("on-net") and outside ("off-net") their ownnetworks. Mobile-phone operators have launched on-net rate promotionsfeaturing lower call charges than the off-net rate, to encourage their users tomake calls within their own providers' networks. This is to avoid paying thelarge interconnection fee between different networks.NTC regulations require the caller's network to pay the interconnection fee to the network of the call recipient. The more an operator's subscribers call different networks, the more it has to pay ininterconnection fees."

Why bother, why doesn't the Finance Ministry just own and run all telecommunications in Thailand. It sure looks like they want to... Or at least make the most they can out of it. At this rate when will there ever be 4G here?

And in plain English?

I am confused.

It is banned because it show a gun shooting people.

It has nothing to do with who is shooting who.

The law just say violence (like a gun shooting at people) must not be show before 11pm at night.

Just like you don't see beer ads before that time.

I think such rules also apply to most countries, even in the west.

So nothing wrong with this ban. So I support this ban.

So, shooting them is fine, but showing it before 11 is in bad taste?

I suppose you mean "shooting the movie", and NOT "shooting innocent people".

Yes, "shooting" the movie is fine.

"Shooting the innocent people"? That depends.

If the solider were just carrying orders to shoot at anything that moves, then that is fine. An order is an order.

If the solider were ordered to shooting only buffalo, but instead when to shoot people, then is in not fine; and they should have the eye sight checked.

Having said that, if they can hit Seh Daend from a kilometer away, the soliders must have a pretty good eyesight.

Cabinet agrees to cancel 2G cellular lease

BANGKOK (NNT) -- The Economic Cabinet meeting on Monday has resolved to terminate the 2G cellular lease.

According to Finance Minister, Korn Chatikavanich, a proposal of the 2nd Model Scheme by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) for the operation of the 2G cellular networks under the Act of Private Participation in State Undertakings, B.E. 2535 (1992) will be canceled. The Ministry of Finance and MICT have been assigned to proceed with the resolutions.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also delayed the process to issue 3G licenses, which ICT Minister Juti Krairiksh has been tasked to follow up with the resolutions and inform the cabinet within one month.

The 2G contract, however, can only be terminated by mutual consents, Mr Korn said.

-- NNT 2010-07-19

This is to completely kill off Shin, AIS, Thaksin, Temasek, Yinluck, etc.

What amuses me about all the ridicule being placed upon Thailand in this case is that we don't even have 2Mbps Internet throughout the UK.

Universal broadband delayed until 2015

Thursday 15 July 2010 15:08:38 by John Hunt

The UK Culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has at today's broadband summit announced a delay to the roll out of a universal 2meg broadband across the country. The government had previously stated they wanted to ensure virtually all homes could connect to the Internet at a speed of 2Mbps by 2012 but this has been delayed to 2015. Whilst the universal service obligation (USO) wouldn't have made it to every home, dropping this back by three years is a blow to the UK's broadband roll out.

The reason for the delay is blamed on the previous government having left insufficient resources to meet the target. Labour put forward plans to implement a 50p tax on all phone lines to help fund investment in to next-generation broadband for rural areas, which when deployed, would have no doubt helped boost some communities well past the 2meg barrier. Labours plans for directly investing in 2meg by 2012 would have used the excess funding from the digital switchover (DSO) to fund this. The new government are now saying that this isn't enough to cover all areas. It's not clear where they instead expect to find a new source of funding, particularly with industry asking for more public money to deploy next-generation services.

Hunt also reiterated today his ambition that the UK should have "the best broadband network in Europe" by the end of parliament in 2015, but gave more information in that he defines this in terms of the number of people connected and the speed of their access. Whilst many will be connected to fibre-to-the-cabinet deployments by this date, there may still be great swathes of people on slower services and only just receiving 2meg broadband, widening the broadband divide.

See, the British is just as backward as Thai.

You have to give up your old Nationality to become Thai?

That stinks.

Wrong.

Mark is both British & Thai.

And I also knew a guy who is both American & Thai.

I suppose 30 baht is a little to steep to pay these days.

So I take it Rucharee that you do not care that the private hospitals paid for by your government overcharges the government for drugs for those on Social Security. This is the gist of the Prime Minister's statement. Yes farangs are overcharged too and I think this is dispicable but you should care about your own country being defrauded. A little more honesty and less corruption may enable the Government to provide more and better services to it's people who do need it.

Quite agree.

IMHO, the level of corruption have greatly reduced over the past couple of years, and you know why.

There is no corruption left in Thailand, since the day PAD chase Thaksin away.

That is a false statement - stop trolling Rucharee.

OK. I rephrase that.

"There are little corruption left in Thailand, since the day PAD chase Thaksin away."

Now, can you challenge this statement?

I can't imagine why for one second anyone would feel the need to ban that.

Whether or not anyone feels moved by it, I really can't see why anything in it should be an issue.

And it asks a lot of questions that society should be asking of itself. Now that is something new.

It is the violence contents within. Not allowed before the children goes to bed.

Can you truly said, cross your heart, that there is no violence content?

If it walks, looks and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. There were Reds running around that area before and during the torching of Central World. Just as big a question: Who stopped fire fighters from getting to the scene? Those punks should have been shot at the scene. Who else but Reds and their supporters torched downtown and kept firefighters and emergency crews away? The same folks who had been barricading large sections of Bkk for weeks. The same folks who harbored 'protectors' who fired grenades and bullets carelessly around their compound - killing and injuring many.

Wow, your silly duck is the kind of arguments that make you believe such an important thing? You must be of a very simple mind, really. No one denies that the reds were running around Centralworld. But there were several other gangs running around too on that afternoon. Do you know who they were? Do you know what they were doing? Have you got evidence for your claims? Do you really still believe that the little krating daeng flasks with petrol and a few tires brought that building down? Pathetic... If you find someone who can throw such a thing from the street through the security glass of the windows up on the 8th floor and start a big fire up there even though the sprinklers were running, I might have a second thought...

I didn't see anyone coming out of the building before the massive explosions that started the first fires from the inside. I heard and felt the explosions and I saw the orange "flash" shining through the windows from the explosion on the 8th floor; that was not a dream. This only indicates that this was planned and prepared well in advance; the first massive explosions happened already at 13.41; just a few minutes after the redshirt leaders gave up on stage. I know this time exactly because I was giving a radio interview while watching the scene in front of Centralworld just at that time and the first explosion can be heard in the interview.

By the way..yes, the sprinklers were running and I have many photos that show lot's of water flowing out of the ground floor of Centralworld. when the fire started. There was so much water coming out of Centralword that the part of Rama I Rd. facing the ZEN building was completely flooded. There are many photos and video clips showing just that.

Now the big question: Why did the firefighters do nothing to stop the fire before it went out of control?

I have not seen one "black terrorist" on Rajdamri on that afternoon; there was not shot fired on Rajdamri in front of Centralworld. I saw 4 firetrucks including a grey/brown army firetruck on standby between the Intercontinetal Hotel and President Place. I saw many soldiers walking freely on Rajdamri Road even in the early afternoon when the fire could still have been brought under control. How comes these soldiers were walking so freely around Rajdamri without taking cover if there were terrorists shooting on Rajdamri? How comes that these many soldiers who were patrolling on Rajdamri were not able to protect firetrucks? Didn't look as if they were even trying. If they would have wanted to do so they would have been able. How comes that the government, CRES and the army is claiming that they were not going further into Rajprasong than Siam, Rajdamri and Chitlom BTS stations and Pratunam intersection when there are many photos that show soldiers on Rajdamri, in front of Centralworld and in front of the stage and on it during the afternoon? Many international journalists and press and curios residents were also walking down there on the afternoon. Yes, I really don't know who told the firefightersto not do their jobs.

Now the "evidence" of Nattawut and Arisaman giving some speeches several months ago. Nattawut was talking to a crowd of Redshirts months ago - never on Rajparasong - that IF the army is coming to shoot us, then we will burn everything down. That's a rhetoric threat; nothing more, nothing less. How many rhetoric threats have been made by other groups anywhere in the world. How many rhetoric saberrattling do you hear even by governments. If every single one of such rhetoric threats would have led to the actual realization of the threat then mankind would have long been extinguished. A rhetoric threat is no evidence at all.

Arisaman was talking months ago to people about bringing krating daeng flask filled with petrol to Bangkok. Some listened, but that's still no evidence to the question who finally brought Centralworld down. It's not possible to start such a massive fire that leads to the collapse of a modern building with these little flasks thrown from the outside against a lot of security glass. It's no evidence to help solving the question of who started the big fires and explosions inside and within the 8th floor.

Let's look at a speach that is much more actual and relevant. Even on May 13 Jatuporn gave a speech on stage in which he urged all Redshirts not to burn anything down before they leave; "Bangkok is our city, we are all Thai citizen, we don't burn our house!" Unfortunately the non-censored media in Thailand is not publishing such speeches.

Taking a truly neutral stance and just believing what I saw, felt, smelled and heard with my own eyes my answer can only be that we don't know what really happened at Centralworld. There is no convincing evidence that proves that the redshirts did it; all evidence that people showed me can be countered and there is so much evidence that puts the "official version" into serious doubts.

I will not argue on this forum any longer about what really happened there; what I witnessed myself and the memories, live interviews, photos and videos I have got should not be distorted and questioned by people that just read some biased media. If someone is really interested and has got convincing firsthand evidence and proofs that can complete the puzzle please send me a private message. Maybe we could meet and exchange some experiences and evidence.

It is OK to be be "silly duck".

But please don't be a "sick duck".

Why give rights to farangs.

They don't even belong to this country.

Don't feel sorry, we have the whole range of dress modes.

Actually, it's a bit of a challenge to get the Saudi women to come out of their shells and contribute to classes, but once they feel 'safe' and get more confident it can be quite interesting. Some wear them by choice you know. For others its just cultural.

Personally, I'm quite fond of Koreans in black tights and shorts.

DOM = dirty old man.

No way Jose.

Mark will stay in power forever.

Believe me.

He is the best PM Thailand ever get, by far.

I suppose 30 baht is a little to steep to pay these days.

philw >> You are way off target with your comments on TK and clueless about nations defence forces in general.

Most nations don't buy units due to the prospect of going to war.

Just like you don't get married, just because you want to have children.

Why hire lawyers, when nearly half of the party members are lawyers themselves?

I still don't get it.

Only a fool represents him or herself in a court of law.

Why not just get TPI to pay for the lawyer fee?

errr ...

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand

Since when?

Since the 1st women is born.

I am curious how Thailand can claim any right to this temple at all when it was built hundreds of years before the first Siamese State of Sukhothai was founded in 1238. The first temple built by the Khmer people on the site dates back to the 9th Century. The land on which the temple lies, was for a brief period of modern history under Siamese rule. However the land was ceded to Cambodia, who were under French rule at the time, on 13th February 1904 by King Rama V. He agreed to the French demands and gave them the land they were asking for rather than risk being invaded. I have attached a map showing the exact areas he signed over to the French and the dates. You will note that it quite clearly marks Preah Vihear as being inside French Territory. Subsequent maps made after this also clearly show the Temple as belonging to the French. The International Court also ruled in 1962 that it does not belong to Thailand.

Case closed.

You will notice on the map that Thailand also controlled a fair portion of what is now Cambodia including Siem Reap on which Angkor Wat is situated, however they signed that over on 23rd March 1907 and I bet they are still counting how many tourist dollars they have lost because of it. Could you imagine if Angkor Wat was in Thailand? The number of tourists and money coming here would be staggering. They also signed over all of what is now modern day Laos That is probably why they are digging their heels in on Preah Vihear, when they have not a modicum of evidence to support their ownership.

Thanks for the map. I notice that none of the areas ceded to France had not at one time been Cambodia. They were all lands Thailand took by force with no justification. All the French did was right a wrong. Also the French had nothing to do with the 1962 decision. Once again I say Abhisit get on with uniting Thailand save the castle's in the sky for the Thai TV posters. LOL

As I said Siem Reap is Cambodian for Siam Defeated.

Sorry, I think you have mistaken.

All the French did was wrong a right.

Just look at the artitechture. It is simplySiamese. You can see similar structure in downtown Lopburi & PiMai too.

It is banned because it show a gun shooting people.

It has nothing to do with who is shooting who.

The law just say violence (like a gun shooting at people) must not be show before 11pm at night.

Just like you don't see beer ads before that time.

I think such rules also apply to most countries, even in the west.

So nothing wrong with this ban. So I support this ban.

Do you Reds think that Chalerm is going to be a better PM than Abhisit is? It does look as though there is a good chance of that happening and I expect that we will see some of the posters here suddenly become very quiet when they see what a mess their "Champions of Democracy and Free Speech" will make of the country.

The Pheu Thai Party Brain Trust... Chavalit and Chalerm... Put Thailand's future in that mush of grey matter?

No, Chalerm is not, and will never be as good as PM as Mark.

But sad to say, Mark isn't really doing his job.

IMHO, someone else did it for him, and just use his baby face as front.

What and how exactly did PM gain financially from sending sms?

..Well said....."What and how exactly did the former PM Samak gain financially from hosting a cooking show..

He was paid 5,000 baht per trip. Which HE gave to his chauffeur. The limit is 3,000 baht.

Smak was also GIVEN FREE political airtime worth 100's of thousands of baht

to talk HIS politics, incidentally while cooking.

His own lawyers told him to drop the job, and he ignored them.

And then he lied about it in court. And got caught.

Abhisit didn't gain financially from, send this request for feed back from people with phones.

And the the privacy argument is utter BS, because we get dozens of SPAM SMS messages we can't shut off weekly.

That Samak misused the cooking show for his politics was never part of the court case against him. That is you your propaganda agitation.

A TV channel you just can switch, you don't had to watch a cooking show with Samak, but is difficult to avoid a spam SMS. And this particular SMS didn't contain something useful information as some fusion food recipes, extraordinaire, like pork leg stewed in coca-cola.

If i send a SMS, i will have to pay for it. How big would my telephone bill for 17 million SMS?

I got that Spam SMS too, that was a while ago, cant remember what he wrote exactly, something like. 'Greetings, it is me, Your PM, and i promise everything will be well soon and back too normalcy. send a SMS to me if you wanna know more'.

It smelled fishy like your usual scam sale spam message you can get in e-mail. but i never get something like that on the phone before. It was on a post paid number, so i registered it with my passport and maybe even with my wp, but i never apply for a service to get messages from Abhisit, nor gave him otherwise my number. He should had actually knew that i am just a migrant with a wp and not a thai citizen. Anyway i hope he don't get 5 years jail now for trying to drag foreigners into issues of Thai domestic politics, that would be a little bit over the top.

But if that SMS violates the Thai law, he has to face the consequences. Don't matter if he is the PM or had only 'good intentions'.

It is OK for PM to send out free SMS for free. Unless your name is Thaksin (or Somchai, or Samak, etc.)

In short, westerners (unlike Thais) are not smart enough to understand the political situation in Thailand.

That is why it is a waste of money watching paid foreign media that CNN & BBC, when local free media like NBT (under the instruction of CRES) can do the job of getting the world informed, better.

Wow, a good one from you for a change.

Those 2 Statements,still don't set the record straight what the WP so obviously missed, this in turn opens the question of "how much of their reporting is really up to scratch?" Gentlemen, if you indirectly claim to be "so smart", then please do so, in genuinely thinking smart and then make comments!

Unlike some, I make no pretence at being something I am not. I just really liked Rucharee's pi*s take (if indeed that is the way it was intended) at the westerners' expense (mine included).

It is a fact that Farangs will not be able to comprehend a Thai problem, better than a Thai.

Is this a fair statement?

So go watch your CRES directed NBT, rather than CNN/BBC.

How old was Elvis wife when they first have sex?

I am quite sure she was under age.