ANJIRA ASSAVANONDA & AMPA SANTIMETANEEDOL
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has ordered mobile phone operators to increase network interconnection by June 30 in a bid to ease the call traffic congestion. Complaints about network congestion were still being received from mobile phone users yesterday. Most users reported extreme congestion between 5-10pm, with Advanced Info Service (AIS), the industry leader, said to be the worst off.

AIS customer Narongsak Srikhruadong, 28, who owns a tutorial school in Kalasin province, said the congestion peaked when it was thought to be the most convenient time for him to chat with friends.

Because his friends are mainly the customers of DTAC, the second-ranking service provider, Mr Narongsak decided to buy a pre-paid DTAC SIM card in order to get in touch with them. He found that calling from within the same network was also cheaper.

''I just want the mobile phone operators to think more of their customers instead of only reaping profits,'' he said.

Sayan Panyo, 28, a True Move and DTAC customer, said he also encountered problems when calling AIS numbers in the evening.

An independent event organiser in Chiang Mai, Mr Sayan said at times the situation got so bad that he was forced to postpone calls to his clients even though there was some urgent business to settle.

''No matter how hard I tried, I was repeatedly shown ''network busy'' on my phone. I have had to redial at least 7-8 times to get connected. But most of the time I fail even after trying so many times,'' he said.

Mr Saiyan has urged his close contacts to switch to the same network.