The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has agreed to a per-second cell phone charge on 50% of 4G services, leaving the other half with the fixed fee option in the operators' favour.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said on Wednesday that the commission's telecom committee decided to change its May 2016 resolution to have 4G phone operators charge their phone fees completely on the per-second usage basis.
As a result of the change, the pay-per-second rule applies to 50% of their services and the other half remains with fixed fees for unlimited voice and data services.
The regulator had never been able to enforce the May 2016 resolution amid strong opposition from 4G operators on 900- and 1800-megahertz spectrum: mobile leader Advanced Info Service (AIS) and third-ranked True Move.
Consumer protection groups had urged the NBTC to impose the old resolution to stop operators from taking advantage of subscribers by rounding up minutes of phone usage. Meanwhile, the operators had argued that the pay-per-second rule would affect 80% of their existing customers who signed up for the fixed fee option.
Mr Takorn said the latest decision was intended to give options for consumers to choose what was in their best interest and did not favour any operator.
Some parties agreed with the pay-per-second rule but other parties thought the fix fee option was cheaper, he said.