Academics and consumer protection panels are criticising the national telecom regulator's failure to govern tariffs for third-generation (3G) mobile service, saying operators adjust their rates as they see fit without being restrained by price rules.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has ordered the three major 3G mobile operators to cut tariffs for 3G service packages by 15-20% from existing 2G service rates as of last Dec 7 as per regulatory requirements.
Prof Pornthep Benyaapik, vice-dean of Thammasat University's economics faculty, said the NBTC needed to set a more practical index to govern the rule.
The regulator, meanwhile, must urge 3G service providers to offer more tariff choices to meet real customer demand.
Prof Pornthep said DTAC subsidiary DTN was the only operator that met the regulator's target to offer mobile tariff packages down by 24% from last year's tariff rates, while mobile leader Advanced Info Service's AWN had cut its tariffs by only 8% and True Corporation's Real Future by 14%.
The criticism was raised yesterday at a consumer protection forum entitled "Consumers' Situation under NBTC Regulations" hosted by the NBTC's consumer protection panel, Thammasat's economics faculty and the Thailand Research Fund.
The figures were based on the latest survey in June compared with the market when operators launched 3G commercial tariff packages in June 2013.
Prof Pornthep said the study found the NBTC had yet to establish a practice index to govern its 3G licensees to comply with the license's condition that required a 15% price cut even though the NBTC noted that since last year, all 3G tariff packages on the 2100-megahertz network were already cut by more than 15% of the service fee compared with Dec 7, 2012.
"The regulator's index was impractical since it evaluated overall tariffs on average and did not elaborate on each service such as voice, data and internet service in bundled packages," he said. In addition,3G operators offer a variety of packages that do not comply with customers' real demand. The report shows customers who mainly use voice service were affected most by the high tariff, and the most reduced tariff is one that is not used by most customers.