Now that the two mobile licenses have been issued, all eyes are on the new Telecom Law, expected to be enacted any time. The version I looked at, supposedly worked with assistance from the ITU Bangkok Office, was so bad that it was withdrawn. It appears the subsequent version is not too good:
The Sections 15 and 16 of the proposed bill says the license holders must abide by the rules, regulations, orders and directives issued by the Ministry of Information and its related departments. And the Section 32 stipulates that license holders must provide services in conformity with the price rates approved by the department.
According to Section 38 said the license holders are not allowed to share market, buy telecommunication appliances from unapproved suppliers or go against a certain opponent in an improper way. Moreover, according to Section 40, the government can discontinue the license holder if they refuse to comply to these measures.
“The distinguished fact stated in the bill is that operators have to agree the price assigned by the ministry. I thought it is a different case from the point of security affairs. It may make problems in competitive market if the ministry is interfering with such cases,” the lawyer added.
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