Hat yai: The NBTC has joined forces with all mobile operators to restore 85% of Hat Yai's signal coverage. Thaicom is deploying Wi-Fi via satellite to enhance communications systems, focusing on vulnerable areas. Mobile operators are waiving phone, internet, and Wi-Fi charges during the floods.
According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Trirat Wiriyasirikul, Deputy Secretary-General and Acting Secretary-General of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), stated that he has ordered all telephone service providers to waive mobile phone, internet, and Wi-Fi service fees for residents of Hat Yai during the flooding to alleviate public suffering.
The NBTC has collaborated with mobile service providers AIS, True, and NT, and brought in Thaicom to install satellite internet in hospitals and disaster relief centers, which are vulnerable areas. This includes two main hospitals and nine field hospitals, to provide internet access for medical staff, nurses, and frontline public service personnel, who have been unable to communicate and work in these vulnerable areas due to power outages.
Mr. Trirat said that today, approximately 85% of the communication system in the Hat Yai area will be restored after the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) began gradually restoring power.
However, it is acknowledged that this disaster situation is an important lesson that requires adjustments to the standards of base station networks, or cell sites, which require additional adjustments to the installation structure to ensure communication can be used in a crisis.