TOT halts 1133 call charges

The TOT blinked.

After a month-long standoff with the National Telecommunications Commission, the state-owned telephone company backed down and stopped charging for calls to the 1133 directory-assistance number.

TOT president Teerawit Charuwat claimed that the halt to the three-baht charge for seeking directory assistance was temporary. But TOT clearly was the loser in the first direct confrontation between a state telecoms firm and the NTC, sometimes dubbed The Magnificent Seven.

TOT began charging for 1133 calls last month, saying it needed the income.

The NTC first ordered TOT to stop charging, then threatened to withdraw the TOT operating licence and then, last week, said it would fine the TOT 420,000 baht per day if it continued to charge customers for the service.

The 1133 service is the new iteration of the infamous 13 directory assistance, which is as old as the TOT Bangkok telephone network. It is best known for generating a busy signal when customers called.

The NTC has not yet set a national telecommunications policy or price structure, but was flexing its largely untested regulatory powers in the showdown with TOT over the 1133 service.

--Bangkok Post 2003-04-02

Good News.

not sure how this could be considered good ... if it were profitable for them you wouldn't get a busy signal in the long run