Bangkok--Dec 28--DTAC
DTAC announced today that it would cancel its plan to hold a New Year countdown festival in condolences to the national tragedy caused by massive tidal waves that hit six coastal provinces in the south on Sunday.
"The cancellation would allow the company and its partners to put focus on aid efforts", said DTAC’s Co-Chief Executive Officer Vichai Bencharongkul.
DTAC and its partners including Nokia, Uni President, Blistel, Sahapat and Matching Studio had previously planned to hold the ‘Happy Festival 2005 Bangkok Countdown’ during 29-31 December at Rama VIII Bridge.
DTAC had sent rescue teams into the six affected provinces to facilitate communications and provide other assistances since Sunday. A donation center has also been set up in front of its headquarters on Vibhavadi Rangsit road to gather donations from employees and general public.
DTAC’s Prepaid Business Unit Group Director Thana Thienachariya said it would be inappropriate for the company to carry out the New Year celebration while the nation was suffering from such a great loss. The company and its partners would rather mobilize its resources in aid of the tsunamis victims, he added.
DTAC has allowed its postpaid subscribers to make free local calls since Sunday while automatically topping up its prepaid subscribers with free call credits worth 50 baht everyday from Sunday till Tuesday December 28. It has also transformed its call center into an information and relief coordination unit (Tel *1800, 0-2202-7000) and set up a special hotline number (112) to answer calls from foreign customers who are affected by the disaster and want to send messages back home. DTAC’s international short messaging service is also made available for free for foreigner using DTAC’s international roaming service.
Besides, DTAC allows people to inform it about the phone numbers of missing persons who are DTAC customers. The company will attempt to locate them or establish their whereabouts before they went missing. Contact DTAC Call Center at *1800 or 0-2202-7000.
DTAC, UCOM, Siam Cement, TV Channel 3 and Ruamduay Chuaykan Community Radio have also made a donation of one million baht to the Andaman Sea Relief Center to aid the victims in affected areas. End.