Print

Mail

wiki links

First International Telecom to compensate subscribers

First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信), the nation's only short-range PHS operator, yesterday agreed to compensate its subscribers affected by a service disruption on Sunday which lasted for 11 hours.

It was the first time the telecom service provider had experienced a system failure since it was established six years ago.

Originally insisting that no compensation would be offered based on the contract, First International made a U-turn after reporting to the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday morning.

The 500,000 affected users, or nearly half of its 1.25 million subscribers, will each be given 10 minutes free talk time when calling other First International users, the firm's press statement said.

The rate discount will be reflected in their bills next month, it added.

The large-scale system crash occurred at 12:30pm on Sunday. Although First International immediately launched its emergency mechanism, it took the firm 11 hours to resume all its communications services.

Despite the firm's compensation measure, the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) yesterday said it was insufficient as the system failure caused users considerable inconvenience.

On Saturday, 200,000 subscribers experienced a service disruption, followed by Sunday's extensive crash, the foundation said.

But affected consumers would only get compensation of NT$19 considering the normal rate averages NT$1.9 per minute, it added.

The nonprofit organization cited Article 12 of the Consumer Protection Law (消費者保護法), urging relevant government authorities to amend the contract, which states that compensation is only required when service disruption lasts for more than 12 hours.

The cited article stipulates that "Terms and conditions set in a standard contract, which violate the principle of good faith and are conspicuously unfair to consumers, shall be null and void."

The foundation suggested that affected consumers provide evidence of losses resulting from the service failure to demand reasonable compensation.

The Cabinet-level Consumer Protection Commission yesterday also issued a press statement, suggesting that the 12-hour restriction should be removed to better protect consumers' rights and interests as "service disruption has frequently occurred."
This story has been viewed 1571 times.