Protect consumers from high mobilephone bills

28 July 2007

Editor
Today paper

Many people are not aware about the high cost of using the mobilephone, such as:

* receiving incoming calls when they are away from Singapore (for which they are charged expensive roaming rates)
* chatting for a long time on the mobilephone
* when their phone is used by an unauthorised person

They learn about the high charges only after the bill arrives at the end of the month. By that time, it is too late. These bills can amount to a few hundred dollars, or several thousand dollars.

For low income earners and students, these unexpected bills can be a heavy burden and could lead to bankrupcy.

I suggest that the consumers should be protected from these risks. The authority should make it mandatory for the telephone company to place a reasonable limit of say $200 on the monthly bills. If this limit is exceeded, the telephone company should be required to contact the customer and get his or her specific request to extend the limit. This will ensure that the customer is aware about the charges.

Tan Kin Lian