True, DTAC customers accuse consumer group of bias against the merger
A group of customers of True Corporation and Total Access Communication (DTAC)’s mobile phone networks on Tuesday accused the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) of being biased against the merger deal of the two operators.
The group went to the council’s head office and submitted an open letter demanding that the non-governmental organisation be unbiased about the deal instead of “acting in favour” of the other mobile phone operator. The group stopped short of mentioning Advanced Info Service (AIS), Thailand’s largest mobile phone operator in terms of subscriber base.
The group was led by Kongchat Kaewsukkho, a representative of DTAC mobile phone users, and Jirawat Pirasakphakdee, a representative of TrueMove H mobile phone users.
The two representatives said they were acting on behalf of a “group of True and DTAC mobile phone network users”.
After a long delay, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission voted on October 20 to give the green light for True and DTAC, the second and largest operators, to go ahead with their proposed merger with stringent conditions.
The NBTC voted that it had no power to stop the merger but could only issue regulations to protect customers.
Kongchat said his group made the move after it suspected "unrighteous" conduct by the TCC and lack of neutrality, after the consumer council launched a campaign on websites to gather signatures of people opposing the merger deal.
Kongchat said the open letter demanded that the TCC take into account the wishes of True and DTAC users who wanted the merger to be done as soon as possible.
“The TCC should listen to the opinions of real customers from all sides,” Kongchat said.
“The TCC should maintain neutrality and should provide comprehensive information and should act to protect all groups of consumers fairly.”
For example, he said, DTAC clients would get to use facilities of True network after the merger, such as the True 5G network, which covers the country, and True Online’s comprehensive fibre networks as well as True Visions subscription TV network and online content of True ID TV network.
Kongchat added that DTAC users would also benefit from the numerous True service centres and several other affiliated services, such as True Health and True Money.
“A clear benefit is that our network’s signal will improve because after the merger, there will be more signal cells and the mobile signal will become faster and stronger and cover more areas,” Kongchat said.
“True and DTAC users will get to use better phone services and better Internet connection.”
Kongchat added his group believed the merger would intensify the competition between the large operators, and both True and DTAC would not stop offering privileges as they would have to try and maintain subscribers and win new ones.
“There is no reason for the merged firm to raise service prices because it would prompt customers to switch to the other network,” Kongchat argued.
He said his group also believed that the merged firm would have the capability to invest more to expand the network and develop technologies for coping with the growth of digital businesses.
“We customers see a lot of benefits for us and we clearly see that this merger will let True and DTAC clients receive only benefits without any disadvantage,” Kongchat said.
He added that the group also believed in the capability of the NBTC to control service prices to protect the customers in the future.
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