10,000 cellular users flee DTAC

About 10,000 customers of Total Access Communication switched to another cellular network in January, when DTAC's network faced problems.

A source at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), citing a report from the mobile phone number portability service provider Clearinghouse Co, said DTAC suffered a net loss in customers last month when about 10,000 left its network and about 5,000 joined it.

The source said the exodus from DTAC in January was high compared to other months.

DTAC's network broke down three times in the past two months - on December 21, January 5 and January 8.

DTAC has paid Bt400 million in compensation to the customers affected by these three incidents.

Some 30,000 TrueMove customers jumped to another network last month, while the company gained about 400, the source said.

Most of these customers probably left to sign up with the 3G service of CAT Telecom and Real Move, since TrueMove's concession runs out late next year.

Advanced Info Service acquired about 15,000 customers, while giving up just a few to other networks.

The NBTC will hold a meeting this week to seek ways to boost the capacity of Clearinghouse Co, which can port 400 mobile numbers per operator per day and complete the move within three days.

The requests from all cellular operators for number transfers from December 2010-January 16 had reached 401,053, of which 304,779 were completed.

The service allows subscribers to switch networks and continue using the same mobile phone number.