3.3.

THAILAND
A) Telecommunication services
According to the article, the only supplier of Thai domestic telephone services is
The Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) and it also provides services to some
neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Myanmar and Cambodia. Besides, its monopoly
counterpart is Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT). Therefore, these two are in
competition for several services which have been partly privatized and are now provided
by private operators. To be clear, with the private operators, they are required to submit
their prices to their licensors for approval. With both TOT and CAT, they have the authority
to set prices, the level of tariffs, access charges, and accounting rates.
One of the reasons why there was an existence of a monopoly service provider in
Thailand was this country did not make any commitments in GATS, 1994 for some
telecommunication activities. However, at present, it is quite changeable. Foreign
telecommunications suppliers are allowed to own up to 40 percent of the equity of
registered Thai companies comparing to 20 percent followed by WTO, 1997.
B) Financial services:
According to Montreevat and Rajan, 2001, they indicated that the Thai government had
been opening up its financial service so as to attract foreign capital and expertise, and
enhance competition in this sector.
 Banking: The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is responsible for regulation and
supervision of the commercial banking sector. Furthermore, with regard to cross-
border supply and consumption abroad, the financial sector save for insurance had
no change and with regard to commercial presence, there were no limitations are
placed on representative offices of banks. In 1997, foreign investors are now
allowed to hold up to 100 percent of shares in commercial banks for a period of ten
years.
 Insurance: The activities of the insurance sector is monitored by The Ministry of
Commerce in Thailand. From 1997, Thailand undertook a three-stage liberalization
of the insurance industry. Based on the data as of mid 2001, it proved that foreign
insurance companies have played a significant role in the Thai insurance market.
3.4. Synthesis of Individual Country Experiences
From the careful analysis about the telecommunication services and financial services of
three countries above, it represents that despite a common move to greater
telecommunication openness, policy choices towards these goals have varied markedly.