Private Companies Protest Over Price Cutting by Thai Telephone Agency.

Aug. 3--The new Y-Tel promotion that charges 50 satang per minute for nationwide long-distance calls on weekends and one baht on weekdays has upset private fixed-line and mobile operators.

They claim that price-slashing by the Telephone Organisation of Thailand would make it very difficult for them to recover their investments in providing the same service.

In a campaign that began on Wednesday, the TOT said that Y-Tel 1234 discounts would apply to calls made from its fixed-line or analogue mobile phones. The one-baht weekday rate will be cut to 50 satang for calls made between 10 pm and 7 am. Calls to cellular numbers of all systems will also cost just 50 satang a minute during the same weekend and weekday periods.

The TOT now has increased the number of its ports tenfold to 32,240 to handle expected surge in the service. It can now handle 10 million minutes' worth of calls simultaneously.

TelecomAsia Corp managing director Vichaow Rakphongphairoj said the TOT never told the Bangkok fixed-line company about its plans. "It really is a stunning rate," he said.

Normal rates for Y-Tel range from two to eight baht per minute, compared with three to 18 baht for conventional long-distance service. Users dial 1234 to reach Y-Tel, which uses an Internet protocol (IP) network to bring down costs. Mr. Vichaow said TA did not expect a big impact on its revenue from the TOT campaign, as it was scheduled to run only until Sept 30.

He said the company ...