Consumer advocacy groups in Thailand have filed lawsuits against the nation's big three mobile operators AIS, Dtac and True Move, accusing them of failing to comply with a regulatory order to implement per-second billing.
The Foundation of Consumers and the Legal Rights and Environmental Protection Association have filed class action lawsuits against the operators seeking a combined 22 billion baht ($689.9 million) in compensation, the Bangkok Postreported.
The suits allege that the three operators continued to round up voice calls to the nearest minute when calculating charges, despite an order from regulator NBTC to charge customers based on actual usage periods.
While the damages are estimated at just 400 baht per person this is multiplied by around 90 million subscriptions across the three operators.
The consumer groups are also seeking five times the requested compensation amount for damages incurred before the NBTC order.
Two plaintiffs have been established in the class-action lawsuits, representing prepaid and postpaid consumers. But the report notes that it will be difficult for prepaid customers to present their call detail records, which would be used as evidence in the lawsuits.