WATCHDOG SET TO REFOCUS ON RULES ENFORCEMENT

       The telecom watchdog will step up its enforcement of regulations to ensure fair competition in the Internet access market.
       Sethaporn Cusripituck, a member of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), admitted that the regulator, which was set up almost five years ago, has focused too much on developing regulations in the past years. But from now on, it would turn more to the enforcement side.
       He made the remark yesterday at the NTC's meeting with Internet service provider licensees to learn if they had any problems after one small ISP complained in the meeting about major network owners.
       The ISP said that sometimes the telecoms declined to allow it to lease their networks to provide Internet service in some locations, citing insufficient network capacity.
       Article 25 of the Telecom Business Act of 2001 requires licensees with telecom networks to allow other licensees to interconnect with their networks.
       They can refuse in some cases such as when their network has insufficient bandwideth or when access by an outside party might cause a technical problem.
       The NTC has 107 ISP licensees, of which 84 hold a Type 1 licence, 14 a Type 2 licence and nine a Type 3 licence.
       The NTC has extednded the term of the ISP licence to five years from the original one year.
       Type 1 is for those without their own dedicated network. while Type 2 is for those either with or without their own network but their competition does not have a significant impact on the public.
       Type 3 is for those with large networks, such as cellular operators, whose competition can have a significant wide-scale impact on the public.
       According to the NTC, True Corp commanded 38.43 per cent of the broadband Internet service market last year, followed by TT&T with 27.92 per cent, TOT with 27.39 per cent, and the others with a combined 6.26 per cent.
       Last year there were 13.4 million dial-up and broadband Internet users in Thailand.
       In the first quarter of this year, there were 1.7 million broadband and 7.2 million telephone subscribers.
       The broadband Internet market is projected to increase to bt10.5 billion next year from Bt8.5 billion expected this year and Bt6.63 billion recorded last year.