AIS to charge 1 baht/day for inactive prepay accounts

[Crash]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/339974/consumer-panel-blasts-ais-plan

 

Consumer panel blasts AIS plan

Published: 12 Mar 2013 at 00.00Newspaper section: Business

A consumer watchdog is urging the telecom regulator to reject mobile giant Advanced Info Service's plan to impose new conditions on prepaid users.

 

 

Saree: New condition exploits consumers

 

The country's largest mobile operator told the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) that it needs to charge one baht per day for prepaid users whose accounts are inactive for more than a month.

 

AIS said the extra charge will cease when customers resume service again.

 

Saree Ong-somwang, chairman of the NBTC's consumer protection panel, said AIS's proposal could breach Article 31 of the 2010 Frequency Allocation Act, which bars operators from exploiting consumers.

 

AIS on Feb 21 sent a letter to the NBTC's telecom committee submitting the proposal.

 

The NBTC set Jan 18 this year as a deadline for mobile operators to strictly comply with three rules: properly register prepaid SIM cards, scrap expiry dates on prepaid mobile credit and cap the domestic calling rate at 99 satang per minute.

 

Ms Saree said the panel understands that operators shoulder additional costs in order to maintain inactive prepaid numbers in the system.

 

But the rate charged on inactive numbers should be more rational, she said, not one baht a day.

 

Compared with the two-baht-per-month numbering fee that operators must pay to the NBTC, AIS's proposed charge is considered too high.

 

"The charge will be acceptable if it relates to the numbering fee," Ms Saree said.

 

She said DTAC and True Move have introduced promotional packages allowing customers to extend the expiry of calling credit by paying two or three baht a month.

 

She said AIS could still earn revenue from inactive users in the form of interconnection charges from other mobile networks.

 

AIS chief executive Wichian Mektrakarn said the plan was a proposal and the regulator will decide.

 

He said operators have additional costs in maintaining mobile numbers in the system. For instance, the home location registration fee costs an average of 50 baht per number.

 

Ms Saree said the consumer protection panel will propose a draft next month to define measures and actions to benefit consumers.

 

The draft will be approved by the telecom committee before going to the public consultation forum, then to the NBTC board for endorsement.

 

Ms Saree said some marketing tactics by operators harm consumers, such as free SIM cards that are not truly free.

[The Sly Fox]

fuckers, do that and they'll lose a lot to DTAC