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Consumers' Foundation criticizes Vibo Telecom

One of the nation's third-generation (3G) service operators was criticized yesterday by the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) for poor service and reception.

The foundation said it received 20 complaints filed by subscribers to Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信) for the first eight months of the year.

The consumers' discontent came as a setback for Vibo, which has been aggressively promoting its 3G service.

It was the first telecom operator to launch the service -- which allows faster Internet connection and video viewing than the current 2G -- last December.

"Consumers should adopt a `wait-and-see' attitude on the service before they loosen their purse strings for 3G," foundation chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) told a press conference yesterday.

The foundation received several complaints from users of Vibo who found themselves with no network coverage in certain areas, or who had experienced poor connections at times, or had their lines cut off if bills were running much higher than usual.

Some consumers had been granted a decrease in monthly rate plans after contacting Vibo, but they will have to pay compensation of as much as NT$9,000 (US$273) for "breach of contract" if they decide to terminate their subscription early, it said.

The foundation said it had yet to receive complaints about other 3G service operators, like Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).

"The cases highlighted by the Consumers' Foundation are case-by-case issues and we will resolve them and try to meet users' demands," said Vivian Lin (林維娟), senior manager of the market communication division at Vibo.

According to Lin, the company is trying to beef up network reception, as there are some dead corners with no signals.

Vibo claims it has more comprehensive 3G coverage than any of its competitors. It was constantly seeking to increase its coverage, she said.

Vibo currently has more than 300,000 subscribers from a target of 750,000 for the year. The annual figure was trimmed down from an earlier target of 1 million.

Chunghwa Telecom said last month that it had 520,000 3G subscribers, but only 31.5 percent of them own a 3G handset and qualify as active users. The company said the total figure will rise to 800,000 by year's end.
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