Hajj pilgrim faces B1.3m roaming cost

Hajj pilgrim faces B1.3m roaming cost

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is warning Hajj pilgrims to be careful about using mobile roaming services after a man racked up almost 1.3 million baht in phone charges on his journey to Mecca.

NBTC commissioner Pravit Leesatapornwongsa said the man in question had complained to the commission after receiving the huge phone bill for 10 days abroad.

The man said he applied to use a roaming data package costing 350 baht for 25 megabytes a day before embarking on the pilgrimage.

He believed his mobile phone operator would suspend the service if the cost of his data use reached the 7,000 baht credit limit, so he continuously used the service over a 10-day period.

But on returning to Thailand, the man discovered the roaming service did not cover Saudi Arabia. After negotiating with his mobile phone operator, he was offered a 25% discount on the charges, but complained to the NBTC that the cost of the bill was still too high.

Mr Pravit said Thailand lacks any kind of warning system to alert mobile phone users to unusually high costs, leaving many customers faced with “shock bills”. 

He urged operators to develop ways of protecting consumers from overspending.


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