Regulator unsatisfied with compensation offer following TRUE network outage

Thai telecom regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), called a meeting today with representatives of True Corporation, to discuss the network outage yesterday and the company’s offer of compensation to its customers.

NBTC Acting Secretary-General Trairat Wiriyasirikul was clearly unhappy with True Corp’s offer of free data services of 10GB and 100 minutes of free mobile phone service, for one day only, to about a million customers who were affected by the six-hour internet and mobile service outage yesterday morning.

The company offered a public apology and offered the remedies to offset any damage caused. It blamed an electrical malfunction in the core network for the problem.

Trairat said that the compensation offered by True Corp should be unconditional and that it was too little.

Meanwhile, Chutha Sangkhachart, of the Council of Consumers, said that this is not the first network outage suffered by True Corp’s customers, which has occurred on several previous occasions.

Smart phones are not just a tool for communication, they are also used as a digital method to make payments for goods and services, as a tool for other financial transactions, food delivery and for rescue operations, according to the Council for Consumers.

A food delivery rider told Thai PBS reporters that he didn’t receive any calls from customers yesterday, which resulted in him losing revenue.

Anyawut Pho-ampai, of the Nakhon 45 emergency unit, said that his volunteers were unable to contact the rescue centre and some of them had to turn to walkie-talkies instead.