NBTC urged to set fair rates for 4G
The national telecom regulator must quickly establish price optimisation models for fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband services to prevent consumers from having to pay unfairly high rates, warns an independent industry academic.
Anupap Tiralap urged mobile operators not to charge more for 4G services than for 2G or 3G services.
“The next-generation technology should come with cheaper rates based on the fact that the higher data speeds for download could lead to lower operating costs,” he said.
Downloading speeds of 4G could be around 50 times faster than with 3G technology.
Mr Anupap acknowledged that mobile companies would have to take profits on their large network investments but said they should strike a balance with national and consumer interests.
He criticised the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) for wilful neglect of its statutory duty to make mobile operators provide fair tariff rates and reliable service quality.
“The regulator never talks about the expected cost of 4G services for customers,” he said.
Mr Anupap said existing 3G tariff rates were many times higher than operators’ real costs based on figures provided by global consulting firms including McKinsey.
He cited a report that the real cost of 3G mobile data services was only three satang per megabyte, while voice services were 15 satang a minute.
The NBTC has set maximum 3G tariffs, which have been reduced by at least 15% from 2G service rates as of Dec 7, 2012. The new maximum 3G rate for voice services is set at 82 satang a minute, while SMS and MMS services are 1.33 baht and 3.32 baht per message, respectively, and data services 28 satang per megabyte.
The new prices have been reduced from the previous rates of 97 satang a minute for voice services, 1.56 baht for SMS, 3.90 baht for MMS and 33 satang per megabyte of data usage.
Reliable service quality is another crucial area for the NBTC, said Mr Anupap.
“At least 2 Mbps is the universal basic broadband speed to deliver for operators in the world,” he said, adding that such a speed could encourage consumers to use the Line application for making free calls.
Operators are obliged to deliver 3G services at a minimum download speed of 345 kilobits per second and 153 Kbps for uploads to comply with the NBTC’s licence requirements.
Mr Anupap also urged the NBTC not to focus on what it stood to gain from the auction of the 4G spectrum. It should rather focus on what the advent of 3G and 4G will mean for Thai consumers, who now enjoy connectivity at unreasonable rates.
A mobile company executive, who asked not to be named, said that while consumers could experience faster services, costs for downloading the same amount of data on a 4G network would have to be higher.
The source urged consumer protection groups to view 4G technology as one of the major developments in an expected improvement of internet penetration in rural areas. “The more the regulator makes from the auction, the higher the tariffs are expected to be.”