NBTC to fine six operators over number transfer
THE NATIONAL Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will soon fine six telecom operators for allegedly using an unapproved method to transfer their customers' phone numbers to networks within their groups, Takorn Tantasith, secretary-genera
An NBTC source said they would be required to start paying the fine if they failed to correct the process within 15 days of receiving notice.
Advanced Info Service (AIS) and its subsidiary, Advanced Wireless Network (AWN), will be fined a combined Bt15 million per day.
Total Access Communication and its subsidiary, DTAC TriNet Network, will be fined a combined Bt14 million per day.
TrueMove and TrueMove H Universal Communication will be fined a total of Bt450,000 per day.
According to the NBTC’s new regulations, the administrative fine was calculated at 0.1 per cent of revenue, a change from a flat rate of Bt60,000 per day.
In June, the NBTC found these six mobile phone operators guilty, as their parent companies directly transferred subscribers from their concessions to their 2.1-gigahertz subsidiaries, bypassing the central number-portability clearinghouse that they had jointly established.
Customers are required to apply for number portability at an operator’s shop, which then will process their request via the clearinghouse.
However, these operators were found to have just sent a text message to customers, informing them that their phone numbers would be transferred to their subsidiary’s 2.1GHz network.
AIS and DTAC petitioned the Administration Court to strike down the NBTC’s ruling, claiming that the telecom committee had permitted them to use the SMS method to migrate customers.
To correct the process, they had to re-transfer those subscribers via the clearinghouse, which they have reportedly already done.
TOT has complained to the Office of the Auditor-General that AIS’s transfer of subscribers under its concession from TOT to AWN has hurt its revenue. Then the office asked the NBTC to submit a clarification.
