Are some mobile phone firms playing games?
A NUMBER of mobile phone subscribers have experienced difficulty or delay in the process of porting their phone numbers to desired networks, which has raised questions on possible ploys by mobile phone operators to try to retain subscribers with their net
Boontan Vanapanthapornkul, a mobile phone subscriber in Phitsanulok, said last week that he ported his mobile phone number from Advanced Info Service’s 2G service to TrueMove H cellular service three times – but all failed. True, he said, sent an SMS to inform him that the porting failure stemmed from AIS allegedly declining to send his data about porting to True.
Another office woman, who wants to swap from Total Access Communication to AIS, said recently that she waited for more than 10 days after making the request to port her number but still could not do it.
According to the National Broadcasting and Telecommu-nications Commission’s porting rule, the porting process should be complete within three days from the first day of the service request.
A telecom industry observer questioned if the difficulty in porting reflects the mobile phone operators’ attempts to retain subscribers with their networks.
The porting process reportedly got much more difficult after True launched a campaign this month to allow porting to its network at 7-Eleven convenience stores around the country.
NBTC deputy secretary general Korkij Danchaivichit said that the NBTC office recently called in True first and later AIS and DTAC as part of its probe into the AIS and DTAC complaint if porting at 7-Eleven convenient stores complies with NBTC rules. AIS and DTAC questioned if the porting at 7-Eleven stores had a proper signing, on formal papers, by people wanting to port their numbers.
The NBTC office will submit the probe result for NBTC telecom committee consideration on February 18.
True reportedly complained to the NBTC that people wanting to port their mobile phone numbers to True often experienced unsuccessful porting. True sent an SMS to such users, saying it is trying to solve this problem. It advised them to contact the NBTC contact centre on 1200 to make a complaint.
Now all three mobile phone operators have launched heavy subsidised handsets and data and voice campaigns to woo rivals’ mobile users to their networks. In the case of AIS, its campaigns aim to move its 11 million 2G subscribers on 900MHz to its 3G and 4G networks.
Earlier AIS offered service on 900MHz before NBTC reclaimed its spectrum for auction last December after its concession expired last September. However, AIS failed to win the licence, prompting it to launch a heavy campaign to migrate 900MHz subscribers to 3G/4G network of its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network.
According to the three operators, on January this year AIS recorded porting out at 145,000 users, followed by DTAC at 59,000 users and True at 49,000 users.
