Bangkok-Based Telecommunications Firm Seeks Control of Billing, Collections.

Byline: Komsan Tortermvasana

Aug. 14--TelecomAsia wants to take full control of its own billing and collections, saying the existing system set out under the terms of its concession with TOT Corporation is outmoded, cumbersome and costly.

The Bangkok fixed-line operator has invested 1.2 billion baht in its One Billing system, which allows it to consolidate bills for various services such as telephone and Internet access in a single statement.

Currently, bills for as many as five TA services must be sent separately through TOT, which is still in the process of modernising its own billing system. TA believes the arrangement is a waste of paper as well as money.

TA executives said that having full control of billing and collections would help make the company more competitive once the telecoms market is fully liberalised.

But TOT president Sittichai Songpiriyakit said TA's proposal could affect the revenue TOT received under the terms of the concession granted to the company by TOT's predecessor, the Telephone Organisation of Thailand.

"If it affects [TOT], then TA has to come in to negotiate first," he said.

He also said that putting all bills together might result in heavier envelopes that would cost more to deliver.

TA chief executive Supachai Chearavanont said TA customers currently had to struggle with a large number of bills based on the number of services they used. As well, all receipts were sent out separately.

The company wants to offer what it calls a Bill Pack, in which all service charges would be included in a single envelope. As well, customers could design their own payment plans and set a single due date. Currently, each service has a separate due date.

Mr Supachai said TA proposed to introduce the Bill Pack in two phases, in October and November.

A TOT executive who asked not to be named said he agreed with TA's proposal as the state enterprise's billing system was out of date.

As well, he said, as more new services were introduced, TOT's billing system would be unable to cope.

He said that under the present system, TA processed bills using TOT forms, paid for the printing and then returned them to TOT to send to customers.

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(c) 2003, Bangkok Post, Thailand. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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