11.96 million people receive 100 minutes free local voice call
Nearly 12 million numbers have registered to receive free 100 minutes local voice call under the government’s campaigns to help alleviate the people’s financial burden during the Covid-19 situation, National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said on Thursday (May 14).
The NBTC has coordinated with six mobile operators in Thailand -- Advanced Info Service, True Corp, Total Access Communication (dtac), TOT, CAT Telecom and Penguin -- to offer both postpaid and prepaid subscribers 100 minutes free for phone calls to any local landline or local cell number over and above the free minutes granted under their existing packages.
Subscribers can apply for this free 100-minute voice call offer from May 1 to 15 by dialling *170*, followed by their identity card number, press # and call out. The free minutes kick in as soon as an SMS is received for confirmation and are valid for 45 days. Only individual users with Thai nationality can avail of this offer.
“Of the 11.96 million numbers registered, 8.99 million numbers are from prepaid phones while 2.97 numbers are from postpaid phones,” said Thakorn. “AIS has the most registered subscribers with 6.91 million numbers, followed by True (3.08 million), DTAC (1.84 million), CAT (0.12 million), TOT (4,645) and Penguin (1,488).
“The campaign will expire at midnight on Friday [May 15], so if you haven’t registered yet please hurry,” he added.
“According to NBTC’s survey, over 70 per cent of registrants reside in rural areas and they use voice call to contact relatives in other provinces during the Covid-19 situation as the lockdown measures prevent them from physically visiting the relatives,” said Thakorn. “The NBTC is proud to help Thai people get in touch during a crisis as well as promote the government’s policy of social distancing.”