Investors mulling CTM suits for trading loss

The investors would present evidence should they decide to claim trading losses from CTM but said there was no precise figure yet, Pereira Coutinho said (File photo)

Stock investors are considering filing claims against telecommunications provider CTM for trading losses during last week’s network crash, after meeting the sector regulator yesterday.
Seven residents, accompanied by lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho, went to the Telecommunications Regulation Bureau’s (DSRT) office and met director Lawrence Tou Veng Keong.
Coutinho told Macau Daily Times that he received a number of complaints from CTM users, claiming that the network breakdown started around at 3.15 pm, not after 4 pm as CTM reported.
That means the incident took place during the trading session at Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which closes at 4 pm. The lawmaker said the investors were considering filing claims against CTM.
“But they are still considering which road they should take to claim the losses,” he said. “Whether by lawsuit or other means, it mostly depends on the investigation report to be released at the end of this month.”
CTM is due to submit a full report on the incident to DSRT. Only then the government will decide if the company should face any penalties.
He added that the investors would present evidence should they decide to claim trading losses from CTM but said there was no precise figure yet.
Telecommunications operator SmarTone is also considering seeking compensation from CTM for the service interruption. The company pays to rent CMT’s leased line for its 3G mobile service.

Free Wi-Fi at 30 new spots

Starting tomorrow the free public Wi-Fi service will reach a further 30 locations in Macau peninsula and Taipa and Coloane islands, the Telecommunications Regulation Bureau announced yesterday.
The territory will have a total of 113 spots where Wi-Fi is available. The service was launched in September 2010 and, by the end of 2010, over 1.5 million people had used it to access the Internet.
Wi-Fi service can be accessed from 8 am to 1 am, through either non-encrypted or encrypted connections. The public name of the wireless network (SSID) is “wifigo” or “wifigo-s” respectively. The login name and password for both connections are the same – “wifigo”.
Wi-Fi access for each user will be disconnected automatically after 45 minutes.

No requests

SmarTone’s chief executive officer, Patrick Chan, slammed CTM for not having a back-up system and for not being prepared to deal with this kind of emergency.
CTM has not received any requests for compensation after the 3G and Internet services blackout last week, chief executive officer Vandy Poon Fuk Hei told reporters on Monday.
Poon said: “If we receive any requests [for compensation], we shall deal with them accordingly.”
CTM announced it would launch several promotions by the end of the month, including a 25 percent discount on mobile phone tariffs and 10 percent discount on Internet fees. There will also be bonus minutes for pre-paid phone cards.
But during yesterday’s meeting Coutinho and the investors asked for proper punishment for CTM and reasonable compensations for service users, as well as a mechanism for dealing with similar emergencies.
They also asked CTM to upgrade its facilities to prevent further blackouts, and to extend coverage to ‘blind spots’ currently void of telecom signals, including higher floors of skyscrapers, seaside areas and districts close to the Border Gate.
Another request was to keep the 2G network in operation after the shut-down date of July as they claimed last week’s episode clearly shows 3G operation is still unstable.

S.C. / A.L.