The telecom regulator, in collaboration with major carriers, has devised new measures to assist people during the pandemic, including a free mobile internet package for students studying online and offering communication devices to people in home and community isolation.
Other measures encompass free calls to emergency numbers and free SMS messages from state agencies to people as part of Covid-19 vaccination campaigns and treatment.
Trairat Viriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said the measures, financed by 1.2 billion baht from NBTC's fund, were approved by the agency's board yesterday to ease people's hardship during the pandemic, particularly students, infected people and public health officers who need to stay safe but still have to stay connected.
In the first assistance measure, a free unlimited mobile internet package will be provided to students for two months from Aug 15 to Oct 15.
Students in kindergarten, primary and high school along with those in vocational programmes and non-formal education are eligible.
They can use applications that support learning such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Cisco Meeting, Webex and Line Chat, free of charge.
The package also allows students to use other apps -- up to 2 gigabytes for free from August until October or two bill payment rounds. Normally, 2GB of data usage costs 79 baht.
In the second measure, people can make free phone calls to health service emergency numbers such as 1330, 1323, 1422, 1646, 1668, 1669,1506 and 1138.
Third, the NBTC and carriers will provide telecom devices to state agencies and public health authorities for the home and community isolation schemes, including WiFi equipment, tablets and mobile handsets.
These devices will help support video calls and teleconferencing.
Finally, the cost of SMS sent by state agencies to inform people about vaccination, treatment and related Covid-19 measures will be waived.
"As the regulator of telecom and broadcasting business, NBTC is committed to providing support to all parties affected by the pandemic as well as help monitor and ease the burden of digital service in daily life during the difficult period," Mr Trairat said.
He said any resolution to provide assistance requires discussion to ensure the move is done with care.
Before ushering in the measures, the NBTC had been criticised for being slow to waive the cost of calls to health emergency services despite the pandemic situation escalating.
