NBTC orders True to revise compensation after mobile and internet outage

Following an urgent meeting with True on Friday, Trairat Viriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of the NBTC, stated that the commission had ordered True to reconsider its remedial measures for users impacted by the outage, which occurred on Thursday.

This directive was issued after True had initially offered compensation in the form of 100 minutes of free calls and 10 GB of free data within 24 hours. However, this response was deemed unsatisfactory by the public and affected users.

According to Trairat, the NBTC has instructed True to revise its compensation plan in two key areas. Firstly, the company must not charge customers for services during the period they were unable to access them, in line with NBTC’s regulations on service contracts.

Secondly, the revised compensation should exceed the initial offer—providing more than 10 GB of data and over 100 minutes of free calls—without limiting usage to a 24-hour period. 

Furthermore, True is required to clearly differentiate compensation policies between postpaid and prepaid customers, as well as for users on unlimited call and data packages. The process for claiming these benefits must also be made more user-friendly and should not rely solely on SMS messages containing links.

In addition, the NBTC has urged True to enhance preventive measures to ensure reliable and efficient communication services nationwide, Trairat added.

Meanwhile, the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) criticised True’s compensation measures as unfair to more than half the country’s consumer base, citing the following reasons:

1. Limiting the compensation to a 24-hour usage period is inappropriate given the extent of the disruption. It is virtually impossible for most True customers to utilise 10 GB of free data and 100 minutes of free calls across all networks within such a short timeframe. True should extend the validity of this compensation to 30 days or one full billing cycle.
    
2. Requiring users to claim compensation via an SMS link was deemed inappropriate, as many customers either did not receive the message or failed to read it.  Given the widespread impact of the outage, compensation should be automatically and unconditionally provided to all affected users.
    
3. The current measures do not benefit users with unlimited call and data packages. True should develop specific compensation tailored to different customer segments to ensure fair treatment.
    
4. True’s compensation is uniform, despite customers having diverse service usage patterns. For instance, those using only internet services require different support. Compensation should be tailored to individual needs, using customer data to inform a more appropriate response.
    
5. True must deduct one day’s service fee from monthly bills for postpaid users or offer equivalent time or benefits for prepaid and bundled package customers.

TCC called on True to provide a full explanation of the root cause behind the nationwide service disruption, which also affected customers using international roaming services.

The council further urged True to implement robust preventive measures to avoid recurring internet outages, warning that leaving the public to speculate, offering vague explanations, or failing to present clear future safeguards could lead to growing concern among its customer base.

TCC also called on the NBTC to summon True representatives for a formal explanation of the incident and to enforce strict requirements for both preventive measures and timely user notifications, in order to minimise unexpected damage in the future.