Dtac has issued a statement politely reminding the regulator of its own number porting rules and why proper verification of documents and signatures is important for consumer protection.
Dtac Chief Marketing Officer Sigvart Voss Eriksen, Chief Marketing Officer said, “Dtac has strictly followed the NBTC’s mobile number portability process for porting-in, which requires that the requester fills out an application form and the mobile operator verifies the requester’s actual ID card or other equivalent document, collects a copy of such identification certified true copy by the subscriber’s signature, and return a copy of service agreement to the subscriber.
“As for porting-out requests, the same practice shall also apply, which means it cannot process any porting request without necessary documents. Dtac is fully aware that the NBTC has issued the rules to protect consumer’s rights against wrong doers who look to exploit loopholes in the number portability process and take unfair competitive advantage.”
Eriksen alluded to the ongoing porting controversy by TrueMove’s sister company convenience store 7-11 in his statement, saying, “It is reported to Dtac that most of porting requests initiated in convenience stores are being submitted without necessary documents as required by the NBTC’s regulations. It appears from cases reported to Dtac that key requirement of these rules were not followed when porting is made in the convenient stores and such had misled and created confusion and caused subscribers to make a misinformed decision. That act is considered a threat to consumer’s rights, and therefore should not be viewed as just an issue among mobile operators, but a damage to the whole system. The rights of 75 million consumers in Thailand must be protected from exploitation based on unawareness.”
The Dtac CMO said that his company would strictly follow the NBTC regulations for number porting.
This would suggest that the impasse would continue with Dtac blocking transfers without the proper documentation and signatures.
No mention was made of the NBTC telecoms chair Colonel Setthapong Malisuwan’s order ruling in TrueMove’s favour ordering Dtac and AIS to adjust their number porting procedures to allow for paperless porting under Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Act. However, since there is no cryptographic signature, it would seem that the ETA does not apply to the current standoff.
Asked to comment on the NBTC’s statement on the Electronics Transactions Act, AIS responded with just a short statement, “We are doing according to the regulations and rules”.