Dtac Fined Bt10Mn For Service Failure

[webfact]

TELECOM

Dtac fined Bt10mn for service failure

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Total Access Communication Plc (Dtac) solemnly accepts the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's Bt10 million fine, for the mishap that affected 20 per cent of its clients.

It marks the first time that a mobile phone operator is fined for service failure. NBTC started operations less than a year ago.

At a press conference organised by the NBTC, Dtac CEO Jon Eddy Abdullah said that dtac is willing to accept the fine for failure to comply with Section 33 of the Telecommunications Business Act. Dtac earlier provided free calls to over 3 million customers affected by the 65-minute service interruption on August 28. Dtac now has 24 million customers.

Abdullah said Dtac would not challenge the NBTC’s decision.

He said that the service interruption was caused by the malfunction of a pair of MPLS Signaling Server was brought about by a technician from a sub-contractor who performed activities on Dtac equipment at the Rangsit Switching Center without proper authorisation.

"We have agreed to accept the fine without any challenge in order to show responsibility to our customers and telecom regulators for letting them down. The most recent incident was particularly disappointing since it was the result of a human error by a technician hired by one of our sub-contractors, which has nothing to do with the solid and high quality network that we have," said Abdullah.

"We do not make excuses. And, this is why we moved quickly to provide compensation to our customers immediately after the incident. Thus far, we have provided compensation to over 3 million customers, at a value of over Bt100 million. And, we estimated that this value could go as high as Bt300 million by the end of next week. We are doing this despite our estimate that only about 1.6 million, out of the total daily user of 4.8 million customers, were directly affected," he explained.

"Although dtac experienced a number of service interruptions since last December, this is not to be viewed as a pattern. Only the incident last December was linked to the equipment in our network. The rest were either fibre cuts or an error caused by an external technician. We are confident about the high quality of our network and service and the high competence of our hard working people. We will put in place additional preventive measures and control on top of the very stringent processes and procedures that we already have, to ensure that they are strictly observed and followed. Most importantly, we will commit ourselves to working harder to win back the confidence of our customers," Abdullah concluded.

-- The Nation 2012-09-05

[KarstenBoAndersen]

Ups !

So what will last weeks break down cost Un-True ????

[MobileContent]

About 2 weeks ago TrueMove-H had a problem with their system in Sakon Nakhon. We called all the time but they denied that their was any problem.

10 million Baht fine is a heavy fine.

[happysanook]

Amazing. Of course a farang the first one to get dinged by this sham. 1 hour service interruption and fined $300,000! and $10,000,000 in compensation?

[SOTIRIOS]

....in light of a battle for the control of a beer....against a foreign company....

....and what technician, without authorization, toying with their equipment.......???

[skippybangkok]

This cant bode well for DTAC customers

[SOTIRIOS]

....in light of a battle for a beer....against a foreign company.........

(.....is this recoil.........or a message....???)

......and who is this technician who tampered with their equipment....sabotage....???

[pmh2009]

Wow!!! That looks like racial profiling!!! You can just write like this!!!!

[KKvampire]

How many Thai companies would be successful in other countries outside of SE Asia? I say not many because their customer service sucks

[Thai at Heart]

Can they apply this type of act to isps and their claimed speeds?

[RayHaas]

Dtac is already "Grey" due its Foreign Owners as in the headline..... I wonder if there is more to this story??

Is the competition trying to hurt them by sending in bad subcontractors?

In Thailand all is possible.. Reminds me of last weeks headlines when the Govt decided to hike taxes just as Heineken was in a take over bid.

Oh and todays Headlines in the Nation! Thailand ranking 39 worldwide but could have ranked much higher if ... bla bla... Fill the rest in yourself.

[KKvampire]

Can they apply this type of act to isps and their claimed speeds?

I wish , I have to put up with True Wifi in my apartment block , landlord claims its 10 Mpbs. . Do a speed test and its less than half 256-512 kpbs, A lie

[MahaYellow]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

[Thai at Heart]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

That privilege is reserved for the locals for generation. Forget a fast buck they make oodles for multiple generation.

[Sateev]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

How was the plane trip? Just got in, right?

DTAC is HARDLY a fast-buck company, and they have been here since cellular phones have been available. They, if anything, kept AIS honest during those years by providing good service all over Thailand, when AIS was known for spotty service. The current trend is to get rid of outside competition, and this latest episode is nothing more than a certain PM, whose brother HATES DTAC, trying to make political hay of it.

Back then, True wasn't around. DTAC and AIS were the only choices. And I've been a DTAC customer for over 12 years.

Curiously, ToT went down quite often, and I've never heard of them paying a fine...

[TheFishman1]

Ups !

So what will last weeks break down cost Un-True ????

Not a Farang companies there cost ZERO

[anon467367354]

Why doesn't the headline say Norwegian owned company, why does it say "farang"? Farang means Caucasian, totally a racist article.

Farang owned DTAC operator fined Bt10mn for service failure

Caucasian owned DTAC operator fined.........

[Jezz]

I've used DTAC 'Happy' as my mobile phone network for 7 years, north, south, east and west all over the country and never experienced more than the occasional blip – usually due to isolated locations when traveling. So what's all this stuff about fining the company a ridiculous amount? Oh yes, it's a farang company. Say no more.

[tragickingdom]

Wow 10 million baht that is easily the income that they make in half an hour.

[Steiner]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

OMG. What bridge did you crawl out from under?

Can you imagine a Thai going to the UK or the states and being told that "you are not permitted to do any form of work that a Brit or American citizen can do"

No,? Oh yea that's right those countries don't openly discriminate against race or colour and being racist is unacceptable.

Never seen a race so afraid of, well... everything.

Ghosts, demons, bad luck, lightning traveling down the antenna and through the TV (ask one) and of course farang (who apparently only want all of the land)

[Guest]

Well, even if I like DTAC and have been their customer for a long time, right now I don't feel sorry for them.

They announced that people will be given 80 minutes free calls due the service break. I called their customer service on other reasons and asked if I would get the free calls. It was available, bu the deal was this: 80 minutes free calls within 7 days only to DTAC numbers.. and the free calls were only available between 11pm to 5am. Seriously!? I declined the offer.

[pacovl46]

They get fined for a service interruption that lasted a mere hour despite the fact that they compensated their customers right away??? Only in Thailand!!!

[geriatrickid]

This isn't about DTAC's foreign character, but arises because of DTAC's atrocious record. 8 major service disruptions. The worst record of all of the carriers. I applaud the penalty as it is merited due to the poor performance from DTAC. You know that offer extended of calling to get the compensation? Well I tried multiple times. No luck. I gave up. So did my friends. Had the company been sincere it would have extended an automatic 2 or 3 hours credit by way of something like a Happy bonus such as 500 or 1000 baht credit or whatever 2-3 hours local calling is worth, instead of the convoluted forcing of people to try and call in, but I digress. This is all about DTAC being warned, and warned and warned and not paying attention.

The company misbehaved and violated its service provision agreement. If there was no penalty, the carrier would continue to ignore and abuse its customers. Bear in mind that DTAC benefits from a quasi monopoly in Thailand. As much as some despise AIS, the fact of the matter is that AIS has a much better service delivery record.

[geriatrickid]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

OMG. What bridge did you crawl out from under?

Can you imagine a Thai going to the UK or the states and being told that "you are not permitted to do any form of work that a Brit or American citizen can do"

No,? Oh yea that's right those countries don't openly discriminate against race or colour and being racist is unacceptable.

Never seen a race so afraid of, well... everything.

Ghosts, demons, bad luck, lightning traveling down the antenna and through the TV (ask one) and of course farang (who apparently only want all of the land)

In fairness, I am precluded from engaging in various occupation in the USA. Even though I have the right under various international treaties and trade agreements to engage in my activities, I am still subject to various individual state licence requirements. These US states have erected trade barriers such that they violate the spirit of the agreements and target me specifically because I am not a US national. The same holds for my activity in the EU. Although there are specific agreements in the EU that allow me to engage in my work, when I have to attend meetings in the UK directly related to my job, I am put through the wringer. Those are the rules and I accept them. Thailand's approach is just a different form of restriction. Just as mind numbing and frustrating.

[Suradit69]

Why doesn't the headline say Norwegian owned company, why does it say "farang"? Farang means Caucasian, totally a racist article.

Farang owned DTAC operator fined Bt10mn for service failure

Caucasian owned DTAC operator fined.........

That "headline" was the work of ThaiVisa, not the one who wrote the article.

[seasia]

Large fine,yet ISP s don`t seem to get fined.

[Suradit69]

Farang companies operating in Thailand are under Thai laws.

If they think they can get away lightly and make a fast buck

because they are operating in Asia, this will make them think

again.

OMG. What bridge did you crawl out from under?

Can you imagine a Thai going to the UK or the states and being told that "you are not permitted to do any form of work that a Brit or American citizen can do"

For a Thai to even get a visa to the US or UK presents a major hurdle. I doubt they are issued visas to go explore the job market.

And, assuming they managed to get into either country, they would not be free to apply for employment as if they were citizens of those countries.

Labor certification (not to be confused with the Labor Condition Application - LCA) is a United States of America immigration process step. Its stated goal is to "protect U.S. workers and the U.S. labor market by ensuring that foreign workers seeking immigrant visa classifications are not displacing equally qualified U.S. workers".^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_certification

[notime]

So, does it mean somebody is now going to fine Electric Authority of Samui for constant power interruptions and fluctuations in voltage? The main hindrance and lifestyle crasher here are these power cuts. The power is only available during good weather. Any rain or wind will cause the power cut lasting between 2 seconds and few hours. These 2 second cuts together with voltage fluctuations are the main cause of equipment failure and cost me big $$ in repairs to air-conditioners, fridges, light fittings and electronics. When there is no power I not only have to do without the lights, Internet, TV but also without water since I'm on my own supply and need the pumps to deliver water to every tap. So, I think my life is much more affected by power cuts than the Dtac customers were affected by the 1 hour outage. Are the any chance that the same authorities who acted against Dtac are also going to square things up and fine Samui Electrics? And if not why not???????????

Edited September 5, 2012 by notime

[Sateev]

Why doesn't the headline say Norwegian owned company, why does it say "farang"? Farang means Caucasian, totally a racist article.

Farang owned DTAC operator fined Bt10mn for service failure

Caucasian owned DTAC operator fined.........

Because the TV staff likes to create buzz to drive traffic to this site. It seems to have been edited now...

Still, you raise an interesting point: just to what extent is the distorted headline driven by the prevailing winds of xenophobia in this country?

[notime]

To answer myself I guess the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is not in charge of electricity supply. But shouldn't the same principle used by one government body be applicable to another area, even more so to the government itself? I presume electricity supply is done by government owned institution in this country.