Net licensing fee draft completed

BANGKOK: -- The national telecom regulator has finished drafting Internet licensing fees, dividing them into three types.

The first type is for those without their own network, while the second is for those targeting a specific group of customers, whether they have their own network or not.

The last category is for those with large, dedicated networks.

The first type of licence costs Bt25,000 for the first year and Bt20,000 for the second. The low fees are aimed at encouraging growth.

The second type of licence requires an entry fee of Bt250,000 and annual fees totalling 3 per cent of the applicants’ revenue before expenses.

The third category of licence involves an entry fee of Bt500,000, plus an annual fee amounting to 5 per cent of the applicants’ revenue before expenses.

The NTC will award category one licences on Thursday and also renew KSC Internet’s licence at that time, because its current permit expires on Wednesday.

Second- and third-category licences are to be granted later. NTC commissioner Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn said the NTC was expected to announce the fees in the Royal Gazettes before Thursday.

The other existing 17 ISPs and any start-ups can also apply for licences on Thursday.

The NTC is also working to reduce all network inter-connection rates for ISPs, to help them reduce the fees they charge their customers, said NTC commissioner Rianchai Reowilaisuk.

Currently ISPs in the Kingdom are leasing several network facilities from telecom operators, including the international Internet gateway from CAT.

CAT has different international Internet gateway charge rates. For example, in a one-year contract for a bandwidth of 155 megabits-per-second, the rate would be Bt4 million per month.

--The Nation 2005-06-21

so , we'll have gobs more internet service providers, and still one gateway controlled by CAT. no mention of a bandwidth increase by CAT.

Perhaps the traffic regulator of Bangkok could give away petrol so that more people could afford to drive cars.

anyone know about how much license RF spectrum is available in bkk?