Total Access Communication (DTAC) yesterday kicked off a non-commercial trial of a third-generation wireless broadband service on its existing 850-megahertz spectrum.
The move is aimed at preparing itself for the expected granting of 3G licences.
CEO Tore Johnsen said the main purpose of the "DTAC Mobile Internet on 3G" trial was not to test the well-proven 3G technology, but rather to ensure the company's operations were prepared for upcoming commercial operations, especially the granting of new 3G licences.
The area covered by the initial phase of the trial includes Chulalongkorn University, Pantip Plaza, MBK Centre, Siam Square, the Samyan area and Chamchuri Square, using 18 3G base stations. The coverage area will soon be expanded to other areas of Bangkok from an additional 18 base stations.
DTAC will start giving out free 3G air cards and free airtime today to 2,000 selected users of laptop computers who will access the wireless broadband Internet service via the 3G network throughout the trial period, which runs until December 31.
The trial will cost Bt100 million, for
network development and marketing activities.
Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True Move have already test-launched 3G services on their existing spectra, ahead of DTAC.
AIS began a trial on its existing 900MHz spectrum in Chiang Mai in June 2008 and later in central Bangkok, while True Move recently launched a 3G trial on its 800MHz spectrum in central Bangkok and Hua Hin.
During its trial, DTAC plans to conduct a customer survey to gather feedback on customer satisfaction, giving it better insight into customer behaviour and demands and assisting in the design of better products and services.
DTAC cited studies by the National Statistical Office, TOT and the Boston Consulting Group that found the number of broadband subscribers in Thailand rose from 200,000 in 2000 to 1.8 million last year. However, it said broadband use was still limited by coverage from fixed-line networks that did not reach households in remote areas.
DTAC has said many times it wants to launch 3G services on both the 850MHz and 2.1-gigahertz spectra.
The National Telecommunications Commission plans to auction four licences on the 2.1GHz 3G spectrum but has yet to set a date. Telecommunications-industry sources believe the auction will take place either late this year or early next year.
DTAC is also waiting for a state committee set up under Article 22 of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act to approve the commercial launch of its 3G service on the 850MHz spectrum. Earlier, CAT Telecom, which owns DTAC's mobile concession, said it expected approval to be given in this year's second quarter.
Meanwhile, Johnsen said he believed Thailand's economy would pick up slightly in the second half of the year but cautioned a full recovery would take time.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
STUDY INDENTIFIES STOCKS GIVING MOST VALUE TO INVESTORS
PTT, PTT Exploration and Production, Advanced Info Service, Siam Cement, Siam City Cement, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, BEC World and Bumrungrad Hospital are the eight stocks that have returned the most value to investors over the past six years.
The findings came from a study by Nida Business School based on market value added (MVA) and economic value added (EVA), Aekkachai Nittayagasetwat, dean of Business Administration, told a seminar yesterday on Crisis Watch series 9 "Investment@ Risk Rating Map".
MVA and EVA are methods used to evaluate how much a company's executives would be able to add value to their company's stock.
One of the conclusions is that despite showing net profit, a company might not have the potential to grow consistently in the future. Most stock investment analysis is based on the book value of a company, which generally reflects the company's operating results but misses operating risks both short and long term.
On the other hand, an MVA and EVA analysis includes opportunity costs, investment risk of new projects and accumulated gains or losses. The real value of a stock is reflected. For example, a company could invest in a certain project that has a chance of not generating revenues in the future.
The MVA study alone covered listed firms over the past seven years starting in 2002. Seven stocks were listed in the top 10 all the time. They were PTT, PTTEP, AIS, SCG, Shin Corp, Land and Houses, and Ratch.
MVA reflects the positive expectation that investors have for certain stocks.
The EVA found four stocks listed in the top 10 each year - PTT, AIS, PTTEP and SCCC. Stocks on the top10 list for six years were SCG, Ratch and BEC. This reflects regular profitmaking in terms of the economics of these firms.
Combining MVA and EVA, the institute came up with the eight stocks with the highest valueadded to investors who are looking for longterm investment opportunities in stocks with strong fundamentals and regular performance in both stock price and earnings.
Sukit Udomsirikul, deputy managing director of Siam City Research Institute, said the global economy already bottomed out in the first half of the year and would move toward a more stable stage in the second half.
However, the recovery rate depends largely on the government's stimulus policies.
"Although global economic recovery is on the way, there's still some risk. The growth in GDP was mainly due to government investment, while the private sector has hardly invested. With government spending, economic growth could become a W-shaped recovery," he said.
The findings came from a study by Nida Business School based on market value added (MVA) and economic value added (EVA), Aekkachai Nittayagasetwat, dean of Business Administration, told a seminar yesterday on Crisis Watch series 9 "Investment@ Risk Rating Map".
MVA and EVA are methods used to evaluate how much a company's executives would be able to add value to their company's stock.
One of the conclusions is that despite showing net profit, a company might not have the potential to grow consistently in the future. Most stock investment analysis is based on the book value of a company, which generally reflects the company's operating results but misses operating risks both short and long term.
On the other hand, an MVA and EVA analysis includes opportunity costs, investment risk of new projects and accumulated gains or losses. The real value of a stock is reflected. For example, a company could invest in a certain project that has a chance of not generating revenues in the future.
The MVA study alone covered listed firms over the past seven years starting in 2002. Seven stocks were listed in the top 10 all the time. They were PTT, PTTEP, AIS, SCG, Shin Corp, Land and Houses, and Ratch.
MVA reflects the positive expectation that investors have for certain stocks.
The EVA found four stocks listed in the top 10 each year - PTT, AIS, PTTEP and SCCC. Stocks on the top10 list for six years were SCG, Ratch and BEC. This reflects regular profitmaking in terms of the economics of these firms.
Combining MVA and EVA, the institute came up with the eight stocks with the highest valueadded to investors who are looking for longterm investment opportunities in stocks with strong fundamentals and regular performance in both stock price and earnings.
Sukit Udomsirikul, deputy managing director of Siam City Research Institute, said the global economy already bottomed out in the first half of the year and would move toward a more stable stage in the second half.
However, the recovery rate depends largely on the government's stimulus policies.
"Although global economic recovery is on the way, there's still some risk. The growth in GDP was mainly due to government investment, while the private sector has hardly invested. With government spending, economic growth could become a W-shaped recovery," he said.
HARD TECHNOLOGY NEEDS SOFT TOUCH
Papon Ratanachaikanont, deputy group chief commercial officer at True, explains the "retailisation" movement being championed at Thailand's only fully integrated telecommunitations and media company to The Nation's Pichaya Changsorn.
About three years ago, when Papon Ratanachaikanont proposed to True's board of directors that the company set up coffee outlets, he was stunned by a question from one board member who asked bluntly: "Who are you?"
Having just left the local unit of auto-maker Mazda to joining the telecom conglomerate, Papon had yet to prove himself.
However, after some intense debate, the board approved Papon's plan, which he now admits was intended to be no more than a "marketing gimmick."
"That's how savvy our board was. They approved a budget of more than Bt100 million and ordered me to return the money within three years," he said.
The entrepreneurial task was a big challenge. Papon himself had not expected True to pursue the business. "We first approached Starbucks for a partnership, but they said they did not know us," he said.
Today, True Coffee has paid back the original investment and is a profitable enterprise, Papon said.
As a vote of confidence and part of the group's "convergence" business policy, the parent company in March assigned Papon to take care of all of the group's retailing units and customer service points, totalling nearly 400 outlets, and unit them. These include True Shops, handling fixed-line telephone and Internet business, the outlets of cellular-phone business True Move, customer-service points for cable-TV unit True Vision, True Coffee and 167 new iPhone kiosks established over the past 45 days under Papon's direction in big discount stores and retail complexes, such as Tesco Lotus.
The physical merger of True'e retail outlets is now complete, but there remains a lot of back-office work to be done, and one of the most challenging areas is people management. Papon, who was earlier responsible for True Coffee, with fewer than 40 outlets and a combined staff of 160, is now managing nearly 400 group outlets employing 2,500 people.
But why did he go for coffee in the first place?
Papon said he believed in the "retailisation" trend now seen around the world. Technology is a "hard side" of the business. People are unable actually to feel and touch it, so it needs an "aesthetic" feature like coffee to merge into it.
"I began with a stark contrast - coffee and technology - but people liked it. A 'soft touch' is important, because it gives an aesthetic dimension to people's communications with True," he said.
"In the previous environment, customers felt like they owed us, because they came in with the sole purpose of paying telecom bills. There was no way to improve customer touch points."
In terms of the company's bottom line, True shops are now no longer a pure cost, accepted in the interests of earining income. Coffee and bakery sales have softened this status.
A new True shop recently opened in Central Chon Buri, the first outlet to merge coffee and other services from day one. Up to 100 True shops will soon incorporate a full coffee-store format, while the rest might have self-service coffee sales or other 'soft-side' features, Papon said.
"It's a reverse psychology. Consumers would not be able to find us if we 'converged' without all of the physical presences," Papon said, referring to True's "convergence lifestyle" business philolophy of cross-selling and cross-marketing its Internet-access, cable-TV and wi wired and wireless telephone-network service.
A longer-term goal is to transform all of True's physical outlets into "third-generation destinations" and lifestyle centres for consumers, he said.
About three years ago, when Papon Ratanachaikanont proposed to True's board of directors that the company set up coffee outlets, he was stunned by a question from one board member who asked bluntly: "Who are you?"
Having just left the local unit of auto-maker Mazda to joining the telecom conglomerate, Papon had yet to prove himself.
However, after some intense debate, the board approved Papon's plan, which he now admits was intended to be no more than a "marketing gimmick."
"That's how savvy our board was. They approved a budget of more than Bt100 million and ordered me to return the money within three years," he said.
The entrepreneurial task was a big challenge. Papon himself had not expected True to pursue the business. "We first approached Starbucks for a partnership, but they said they did not know us," he said.
Today, True Coffee has paid back the original investment and is a profitable enterprise, Papon said.
As a vote of confidence and part of the group's "convergence" business policy, the parent company in March assigned Papon to take care of all of the group's retailing units and customer service points, totalling nearly 400 outlets, and unit them. These include True Shops, handling fixed-line telephone and Internet business, the outlets of cellular-phone business True Move, customer-service points for cable-TV unit True Vision, True Coffee and 167 new iPhone kiosks established over the past 45 days under Papon's direction in big discount stores and retail complexes, such as Tesco Lotus.
The physical merger of True'e retail outlets is now complete, but there remains a lot of back-office work to be done, and one of the most challenging areas is people management. Papon, who was earlier responsible for True Coffee, with fewer than 40 outlets and a combined staff of 160, is now managing nearly 400 group outlets employing 2,500 people.
But why did he go for coffee in the first place?
Papon said he believed in the "retailisation" trend now seen around the world. Technology is a "hard side" of the business. People are unable actually to feel and touch it, so it needs an "aesthetic" feature like coffee to merge into it.
"I began with a stark contrast - coffee and technology - but people liked it. A 'soft touch' is important, because it gives an aesthetic dimension to people's communications with True," he said.
"In the previous environment, customers felt like they owed us, because they came in with the sole purpose of paying telecom bills. There was no way to improve customer touch points."
In terms of the company's bottom line, True shops are now no longer a pure cost, accepted in the interests of earining income. Coffee and bakery sales have softened this status.
A new True shop recently opened in Central Chon Buri, the first outlet to merge coffee and other services from day one. Up to 100 True shops will soon incorporate a full coffee-store format, while the rest might have self-service coffee sales or other 'soft-side' features, Papon said.
"It's a reverse psychology. Consumers would not be able to find us if we 'converged' without all of the physical presences," Papon said, referring to True's "convergence lifestyle" business philolophy of cross-selling and cross-marketing its Internet-access, cable-TV and wi wired and wireless telephone-network service.
A longer-term goal is to transform all of True's physical outlets into "third-generation destinations" and lifestyle centres for consumers, he said.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Demand lifts True iPhone sales target
True Corporation is raising its iPhone sales target by 50% this year to 150,000 units following overwhelming response to the 3G S WiFi model during prebookings.
The bookings over a two-week period that ended on Monday tripled the company's projection, said Papon Ratanachaikanont, deputy chief commercial officer of True Corp.
"The pre-booking list was a surprisingly positive response, beyond our expectations for both True and Apple Inc,"he said.
"We are now facing a supply shortage problem, with Apple committed to allocating some quotas from other countries to Thailand."
True has already obtained the first batch of 3,500 units. The second batch of the same number was scheduled early next month and an additional 3,500 units would be delivered later next month.
Mr Papon said the delivery of 3,500 iPhone 3G S handsets will be made on Friday for pre-booking customers first in Bangkok at 112 True shops. Deliveries for the remaining bookings would be completed next month.
True initially expected to deliver the iPhone 3G S WiFi starting tomorrow under its pre-booking projection volume of 3,500 units, the same number it prepared for the first launch of iPhone 3G in February.
True, together with Apple, will compensate the pre-booking customers on the waiting list with a genuine-leather case worth 1,200 baht for free.
The iPhone 3G S Wi-Fi comes in two models: the 16-gigabyte model which costs 24,500 baht, and the 32-gigabyte model priced at 28,500 baht. The phones feature a Thai keyboard, double-speed processor performance and a 3-megapixel digital camera. It allows users to send multimedia messages and to record and edit video clips.
"We expect the sales of iPhone 3G S WiFi handsets to double to 100,000 this year, lifting our total iPhone sales projection from 100,000 to 150,000 units,"Mr Papon said.
True has sold 50,000 units of 8-gigabyte iPhone handsets since the February launch.
Mr Papon attributed the success of the new iPhone model to the company's 18,000 WiFi locations nationwide plus a variety of 50,000 iPhone applications and 50 applications from True.
He also said the success had strengthened the group's mobile-phone business unit True Move, with the number of its high-margin postpaid subscriber base surging by 50% or 80,000 year-onyear in the second quarter.
The proportion of existing iPhone users shifting to True Move also increased to 60% from 40% early this year.
The bookings over a two-week period that ended on Monday tripled the company's projection, said Papon Ratanachaikanont, deputy chief commercial officer of True Corp.
"The pre-booking list was a surprisingly positive response, beyond our expectations for both True and Apple Inc,"he said.
"We are now facing a supply shortage problem, with Apple committed to allocating some quotas from other countries to Thailand."
True has already obtained the first batch of 3,500 units. The second batch of the same number was scheduled early next month and an additional 3,500 units would be delivered later next month.
Mr Papon said the delivery of 3,500 iPhone 3G S handsets will be made on Friday for pre-booking customers first in Bangkok at 112 True shops. Deliveries for the remaining bookings would be completed next month.
True initially expected to deliver the iPhone 3G S WiFi starting tomorrow under its pre-booking projection volume of 3,500 units, the same number it prepared for the first launch of iPhone 3G in February.
True, together with Apple, will compensate the pre-booking customers on the waiting list with a genuine-leather case worth 1,200 baht for free.
The iPhone 3G S Wi-Fi comes in two models: the 16-gigabyte model which costs 24,500 baht, and the 32-gigabyte model priced at 28,500 baht. The phones feature a Thai keyboard, double-speed processor performance and a 3-megapixel digital camera. It allows users to send multimedia messages and to record and edit video clips.
"We expect the sales of iPhone 3G S WiFi handsets to double to 100,000 this year, lifting our total iPhone sales projection from 100,000 to 150,000 units,"Mr Papon said.
True has sold 50,000 units of 8-gigabyte iPhone handsets since the February launch.
Mr Papon attributed the success of the new iPhone model to the company's 18,000 WiFi locations nationwide plus a variety of 50,000 iPhone applications and 50 applications from True.
He also said the success had strengthened the group's mobile-phone business unit True Move, with the number of its high-margin postpaid subscriber base surging by 50% or 80,000 year-onyear in the second quarter.
The proportion of existing iPhone users shifting to True Move also increased to 60% from 40% early this year.
Ill wind blows no good
Morakot was no Emerald; it was an ill wind that whipped up seas and cut or damaged six separated fibre-optic cables carrying Internet traffic to Thailand; the typhoon itself never hit Thailand, but while it killed an estimated 500 Taiwanese,Morakot caused deep-sea landslides that severed three cables and disrupted three others, including the SWM-3 (Southeast Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3)and both APCN (Asia Pacific Cable Network) that carry Internet and telephone traffic to and from Thailand; the Net slowed noticeably, but picked up after a couple of days when engineers managed to quickly repair the APCN2 cable between Singapore and Malaysia, while traffic was re-routed to other systems.
The top three yuppiephone networks announced a convoluted "solution" to SMS spam, now estimated at nine million annoyances a day; starting next Monday, if you get an unwanted commercial message on your mobile phone,call your network's anti-spam centre,explained what happened, and they will try to block any other calls from the spammer - the AIS number to call is 1175,DTAC is 1678 and True Move is1331, and the theory is that the 30-million-baht software they have installed and the highly trained staff they have hired will combine to block the spam across all three networks; Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer at DTAC, said blocking spam would cut revenue at all three yuppiephone firms, who have profited by selling SMS time in blocks to advertisers; in other words, he already knows where the calls are coming from.
Bangkok telephone provider True Corp and their yuppiephone subsidiary True Move began advertising "revolutionary" international phone rates of "only" three baht a minute to mostcalled countries; the rate, cheap at half the price, is about half what the telecoms duopoly of your TOT and your Cattelecom charge, but about twice the cost of the most popular long-distance specialists like DeeDial and ZayHi ; the True rates only will last until New Year's Eve.
If corporate diversification is a sign that the recession is ending, then we got good news from Delta Electronics (Thailand); president Henry Shieh said the Taiwan-based electronics firm is about to acquire solar-power equipment makers in the US and Europe to get out of traditional electric sources and into larger technology areas; he bragged that,"Our cash on hand of over 8 billion baht also supports our investments,"and while Thailand plants are running at only 65 percent capacity making fans and converters, profits in the second quarter were still a healthy 301 million baht.
Also upbeat: CEO Watchai Vilailuck ofSamart Corp , who said business was looking up, with revenues increasing by 17 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.44 billion baht; although profit remained stagnant at just under 125 million, Mr Watchai said he sees clear economic skies ahead, and expects to introduce 20 new yuppiephone handsets before New Year's Eve to feed what he is certain is growing demand in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, as well as Thailand.
Not everyone was bragging and sunny; No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore announced major changes at the very top of the firm's food chain to try to adjust to negative growth and increased competition; AIS tried to spin the changes as restructuring, but in fact the major changes were personnel; Singaporean Hui Weng Cheong was promoted from deputy president to the newly created position of chief operating officer, where he will take over marketing, customer management and handset distribution;president Wichian Mektrakarn was moved to CEO and the president's position was dissolved; AIS has recently realistically changed its revenue target from 4 percent growth to minus-3 percent, bizarrely blaming oil prices and the flu pandemic; chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking the changes at the top were because of poor operating results, it's just all part of a careful,long-planned succession plan.
The company formerly known as Shin Satellite insisted it will break out of its habit of losses and break even this year,thanks to higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite; it's not all rosy for Thaicom , however; Tanadit Charoenchan, executive president of vice, revealed that,"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15 percent this year, up from 10 percent currently."
Then there is Grammy Entertainment , which reported no harm, no foul in its first-half results, a profit of 314.2 million baht on slightly increased revenue of 3.95 billion, boosted almost exclusively by TV programming, while music sales fell four per cent.
Finally, consider the case of bank employee Nawanit Noichana,; he posted a message on the Sanook.com forums soliciting readers to have sex with a certain Ms Som, and providing her real phone number; it was all a prank or something worse, because Ms Som was certainly not that kind of woman; the Criminal Court judge found him guilty under the Computer Crime Act, but then sentenced him to just 12 hours of community service and a one-year suspended imprisonment.
The top three yuppiephone networks announced a convoluted "solution" to SMS spam, now estimated at nine million annoyances a day; starting next Monday, if you get an unwanted commercial message on your mobile phone,call your network's anti-spam centre,explained what happened, and they will try to block any other calls from the spammer - the AIS number to call is 1175,DTAC is 1678 and True Move is1331, and the theory is that the 30-million-baht software they have installed and the highly trained staff they have hired will combine to block the spam across all three networks; Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer at DTAC, said blocking spam would cut revenue at all three yuppiephone firms, who have profited by selling SMS time in blocks to advertisers; in other words, he already knows where the calls are coming from.
Bangkok telephone provider True Corp and their yuppiephone subsidiary True Move began advertising "revolutionary" international phone rates of "only" three baht a minute to mostcalled countries; the rate, cheap at half the price, is about half what the telecoms duopoly of your TOT and your Cattelecom charge, but about twice the cost of the most popular long-distance specialists like DeeDial and ZayHi ; the True rates only will last until New Year's Eve.
If corporate diversification is a sign that the recession is ending, then we got good news from Delta Electronics (Thailand); president Henry Shieh said the Taiwan-based electronics firm is about to acquire solar-power equipment makers in the US and Europe to get out of traditional electric sources and into larger technology areas; he bragged that,"Our cash on hand of over 8 billion baht also supports our investments,"and while Thailand plants are running at only 65 percent capacity making fans and converters, profits in the second quarter were still a healthy 301 million baht.
Also upbeat: CEO Watchai Vilailuck ofSamart Corp , who said business was looking up, with revenues increasing by 17 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.44 billion baht; although profit remained stagnant at just under 125 million, Mr Watchai said he sees clear economic skies ahead, and expects to introduce 20 new yuppiephone handsets before New Year's Eve to feed what he is certain is growing demand in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, as well as Thailand.
Not everyone was bragging and sunny; No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore announced major changes at the very top of the firm's food chain to try to adjust to negative growth and increased competition; AIS tried to spin the changes as restructuring, but in fact the major changes were personnel; Singaporean Hui Weng Cheong was promoted from deputy president to the newly created position of chief operating officer, where he will take over marketing, customer management and handset distribution;president Wichian Mektrakarn was moved to CEO and the president's position was dissolved; AIS has recently realistically changed its revenue target from 4 percent growth to minus-3 percent, bizarrely blaming oil prices and the flu pandemic; chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking the changes at the top were because of poor operating results, it's just all part of a careful,long-planned succession plan.
The company formerly known as Shin Satellite insisted it will break out of its habit of losses and break even this year,thanks to higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite; it's not all rosy for Thaicom , however; Tanadit Charoenchan, executive president of vice, revealed that,"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15 percent this year, up from 10 percent currently."
Then there is Grammy Entertainment , which reported no harm, no foul in its first-half results, a profit of 314.2 million baht on slightly increased revenue of 3.95 billion, boosted almost exclusively by TV programming, while music sales fell four per cent.
Finally, consider the case of bank employee Nawanit Noichana,; he posted a message on the Sanook.com forums soliciting readers to have sex with a certain Ms Som, and providing her real phone number; it was all a prank or something worse, because Ms Som was certainly not that kind of woman; the Criminal Court judge found him guilty under the Computer Crime Act, but then sentenced him to just 12 hours of community service and a one-year suspended imprisonment.
Callers ring for service
In terms of mobile phones at least, Thailand is one of the world's most communicative nations. There are more phones than people, according to the United Nations, and marketing figures show that more than 90% of all Thais above school age carry mobile phones.
But there is big trouble among this handset group.Even though there is competition, subscribers are routinely abused by the big companies who control the mobile phone business. There are signs the subscribers are getting angry enough to do something about it.
A recent meeting in Bangkok brought representatives of phone-using groups from across the region into one room to talk about mobile phone networks. The consumers were not at all happy. Complaints ranged from poor quality of calls to lack of help when subscribers switch systems, particularly in keeping their old numbers.So-called "mobile spam" in the form of unwanted text messages infuriates most phone owners. But the biggest complaint of mobile phone users in Thailand and around the region centres on the extra charges - unadvertised and unexplained to users, and available only in the small print on contracts, if at all.
Some consumers believe the phone companies have deliberately misled their customers in order to boost the bottom line. And in Thailand, the bottom line of mobile companies is very impressive indeed. Last week,the No.1 network Advanced Info Services reported its second-quarter story of woe. Founded by fugitive expremier Thaksin Shinawatra and now controlled by Singaporean interests, AIS claims to have 27.9 million subscribers, most of whom pay in advance for their phone services. The company complained that its net profit between April and June dropped to "only"4.2 billion baht, on revenue of 25.2 billion.
It's tough to feel sorry for companies making that sort of profit in the midst of a recession. The other two top phone companies, DTAC and True Move, report similar profits, in line with their customer base.
The UN's International Telecommunications Union recently reported that Thailand has 118 phones per 100 people of phone-using age. With that number of customers contributing that sort of income to the top phone companies, along with the government duopoly which also makes substantial profits from the business,consumers should get more for their baht.
The three major mobile companies recently made what can only be called a sham attempt to address the problem of text-spam. In fact, they well know who is sending unwanted messages to complaining customers.An AIS official admitted his company profits by selling blocks of SMS calls to commercial firms.
Consumers are beginning to appeal to the government and to the National Telecommunications Commission for action. The phone firms, getting a few baht here and a couple more there from almost every advancepay customer, are making huge profits on questionable business deals. And they still won't even allow subscribers to take their numbers with them when they change providers, claiming it is far too difficult.
The government can, and will do only so much.Consumers owe it to themselves to organise against any perceived mistreatment by the phone firms. Questionable deals should be heavily publicised - members of the media are phone users, too. In extreme cases,boycotts can work far better than slow government officials. Telephone users, meaning pretty well all citizens,deserve a better deal. They should send a strong message to the phone companies that they are not going to take shoddy service any longer.
But there is big trouble among this handset group.Even though there is competition, subscribers are routinely abused by the big companies who control the mobile phone business. There are signs the subscribers are getting angry enough to do something about it.
A recent meeting in Bangkok brought representatives of phone-using groups from across the region into one room to talk about mobile phone networks. The consumers were not at all happy. Complaints ranged from poor quality of calls to lack of help when subscribers switch systems, particularly in keeping their old numbers.So-called "mobile spam" in the form of unwanted text messages infuriates most phone owners. But the biggest complaint of mobile phone users in Thailand and around the region centres on the extra charges - unadvertised and unexplained to users, and available only in the small print on contracts, if at all.
Some consumers believe the phone companies have deliberately misled their customers in order to boost the bottom line. And in Thailand, the bottom line of mobile companies is very impressive indeed. Last week,the No.1 network Advanced Info Services reported its second-quarter story of woe. Founded by fugitive expremier Thaksin Shinawatra and now controlled by Singaporean interests, AIS claims to have 27.9 million subscribers, most of whom pay in advance for their phone services. The company complained that its net profit between April and June dropped to "only"4.2 billion baht, on revenue of 25.2 billion.
It's tough to feel sorry for companies making that sort of profit in the midst of a recession. The other two top phone companies, DTAC and True Move, report similar profits, in line with their customer base.
The UN's International Telecommunications Union recently reported that Thailand has 118 phones per 100 people of phone-using age. With that number of customers contributing that sort of income to the top phone companies, along with the government duopoly which also makes substantial profits from the business,consumers should get more for their baht.
The three major mobile companies recently made what can only be called a sham attempt to address the problem of text-spam. In fact, they well know who is sending unwanted messages to complaining customers.An AIS official admitted his company profits by selling blocks of SMS calls to commercial firms.
Consumers are beginning to appeal to the government and to the National Telecommunications Commission for action. The phone firms, getting a few baht here and a couple more there from almost every advancepay customer, are making huge profits on questionable business deals. And they still won't even allow subscribers to take their numbers with them when they change providers, claiming it is far too difficult.
The government can, and will do only so much.Consumers owe it to themselves to organise against any perceived mistreatment by the phone firms. Questionable deals should be heavily publicised - members of the media are phone users, too. In extreme cases,boycotts can work far better than slow government officials. Telephone users, meaning pretty well all citizens,deserve a better deal. They should send a strong message to the phone companies that they are not going to take shoddy service any longer.
Monday, August 24, 2009
TELECOM UNION URGES ACCESS FOR DISABLED
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is urging lawmakers and regulators in Asia-Pacific countries to make a greater effort to provide access to information and communication technology for disabled people.
The message will be delivered at an Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities which starts today at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok and runs until Thursday.
The head of the ITU's Asia-Pacific regional office, Eun-Ju Kim, said the forum would also introduce the "e-Accessible Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities", developed by ITU and G3ict.
The policy toolkit aims to support various stakeholders in developing policies and strategies for ICT accessibility for disabled people, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The toolkit provides a framework for developing policies and strategies for mainstreaming digital accessibility at regional, national and international levels and offers specific guidance to developing countries.
"We aim to raise awareness and generate momentum for the implementation of the CRPD, especially in countries across this region. Participants at the forum will exchange experiences and case studies, as well as learning about innovative ICT-accessibility measures for disabled people, especially through assistive technologies and applications," Kim said.
She said that initiatives in Thailand for ICT accessibility for disabled people, led by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who was also one of ITU's Patrons, had been carried out. However, the government still needed to take action.
"ICT accessibility policies, especially for disabled people, will not emerge overnight. Consistent and persistent steps must be taken to properly design policies and to implement them for an effective ICT-accessible environment in any given country," Kim said.
ICT-accessibility issues must be considered in relevant laws, regulations, policies and programmes at all stages from design to implementation. She gave as examples Web technologies including information services, websites and online applications; public access terminals such as ATMs, information kiosks, vending machines, information displays, point-of-sale payment systems and door-entry systems; and application software, telecommunication devices and services.
The most recent survey in Thailand, undertaken by the National Statistical Office in 2007, showed that around 1.9 million people, or about 2.9 per cent of the population, had disabilities.
Despite efforts to bridge the digital divide, the gap for disabled people is getting wider and deeper as they fail to catch up with new technologies and services, while assistive technologies, devices and applications specifically designed for these people are barely affordable, she said.
Kim emphasised the role of not only policy-makers and regulators, but also that of industries, in their ability to contribute appropriate designs and affordable ICT products and services for disabled people - taking into account potential markets in an ageing society.
"ICT products and services built with the needs of disabled people in mind will be easier for everyone to use. This helps people who are not technologically skilled to use these products and services. Otherwise, they will be intimidated by them and won't use them," she said.
The ITU will continue to promote the toolkit and deliver appropriate training based on the toolkit to various stakeholders, including policy-makers, regulators and others interested in mainstreaming, developing and implementing ICT accessibility issues for disabled people.
"In Thailand, the ITU is working with the ICT Ministry, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Nectec in areas such as accessibility standards, telecommunications relay services, policy and regulations and human-capacity building," Kim said.
The message will be delivered at an Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities which starts today at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok and runs until Thursday.
The head of the ITU's Asia-Pacific regional office, Eun-Ju Kim, said the forum would also introduce the "e-Accessible Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities", developed by ITU and G3ict.
The policy toolkit aims to support various stakeholders in developing policies and strategies for ICT accessibility for disabled people, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The toolkit provides a framework for developing policies and strategies for mainstreaming digital accessibility at regional, national and international levels and offers specific guidance to developing countries.
"We aim to raise awareness and generate momentum for the implementation of the CRPD, especially in countries across this region. Participants at the forum will exchange experiences and case studies, as well as learning about innovative ICT-accessibility measures for disabled people, especially through assistive technologies and applications," Kim said.
She said that initiatives in Thailand for ICT accessibility for disabled people, led by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who was also one of ITU's Patrons, had been carried out. However, the government still needed to take action.
"ICT accessibility policies, especially for disabled people, will not emerge overnight. Consistent and persistent steps must be taken to properly design policies and to implement them for an effective ICT-accessible environment in any given country," Kim said.
ICT-accessibility issues must be considered in relevant laws, regulations, policies and programmes at all stages from design to implementation. She gave as examples Web technologies including information services, websites and online applications; public access terminals such as ATMs, information kiosks, vending machines, information displays, point-of-sale payment systems and door-entry systems; and application software, telecommunication devices and services.
The most recent survey in Thailand, undertaken by the National Statistical Office in 2007, showed that around 1.9 million people, or about 2.9 per cent of the population, had disabilities.
Despite efforts to bridge the digital divide, the gap for disabled people is getting wider and deeper as they fail to catch up with new technologies and services, while assistive technologies, devices and applications specifically designed for these people are barely affordable, she said.
Kim emphasised the role of not only policy-makers and regulators, but also that of industries, in their ability to contribute appropriate designs and affordable ICT products and services for disabled people - taking into account potential markets in an ageing society.
"ICT products and services built with the needs of disabled people in mind will be easier for everyone to use. This helps people who are not technologically skilled to use these products and services. Otherwise, they will be intimidated by them and won't use them," she said.
The ITU will continue to promote the toolkit and deliver appropriate training based on the toolkit to various stakeholders, including policy-makers, regulators and others interested in mainstreaming, developing and implementing ICT accessibility issues for disabled people.
"In Thailand, the ITU is working with the ICT Ministry, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Nectec in areas such as accessibility standards, telecommunications relay services, policy and regulations and human-capacity building," Kim said.
Shin says stake sale depends on market
A plan by Singapore's Temasek Holdings to sell its stake in Shin Corp will depend on market conditions, an executive at the company said yesterday.
The plan is followed closely by investors as it is likely to increase the volume of Shin shares trading in the market.Some analysts see the stock as a good proxy for the telecoms industry but say the low free float is a trading risk.
"Our major shareholder has a policy to dilute its stake, but timing will depend on the economic situation and market conditions," Tomyantee Kongpoolsilpa,a senior manager for investor relations at Shin, told reporters.
Shin was founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and control of the company was sold to Temasek by his family back in 2006.
Shin's free float dropped to under 4%, below the 15% threshold required by the Stock Exchange of Thailand, following Temasek's $3.8-billion takeover.
Under a complicated structure, Shin is 96.12% owned by two Thai-registered companies, Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings.
Aspen is owned directly by a Temasek subsidiary, while Cedar is 49% owned by Temasek.
The Singapore state investment firm had planned to dilute its holding in Shin Corp to 49%, but the plan is on hold pending a probe into whether the takeover broke laws limiting foreign ownership of Thai firms to 49%.
Kim Eng Securities said in a note that the Shin shares looked interesting because of third-generation mobile phone licences to be issued to its 43%-owned Advanced Info Service (AIS) and the progress of the iPSTAR satellite business run by its 41%-owned Thaicom.
Shares in Shin, valued at $2.1 billion on the Thai bourse, ended 0.9% higher at 23 baht after touching a 12-month high of 23.30 baht earlier. The overall Thai stock market was 1.3% higher.
The current value of Shin shares is under half the price Temasek paid,49.25 baht, in January 2006.
Shin groups more than 20 companies in the wireless, satellite, Internet and media sectors, with AIS, Thailand's largest mobile-phone operator, contributing more than 80% of its profit.
The plan is followed closely by investors as it is likely to increase the volume of Shin shares trading in the market.Some analysts see the stock as a good proxy for the telecoms industry but say the low free float is a trading risk.
"Our major shareholder has a policy to dilute its stake, but timing will depend on the economic situation and market conditions," Tomyantee Kongpoolsilpa,a senior manager for investor relations at Shin, told reporters.
Shin was founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and control of the company was sold to Temasek by his family back in 2006.
Shin's free float dropped to under 4%, below the 15% threshold required by the Stock Exchange of Thailand, following Temasek's $3.8-billion takeover.
Under a complicated structure, Shin is 96.12% owned by two Thai-registered companies, Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings.
Aspen is owned directly by a Temasek subsidiary, while Cedar is 49% owned by Temasek.
The Singapore state investment firm had planned to dilute its holding in Shin Corp to 49%, but the plan is on hold pending a probe into whether the takeover broke laws limiting foreign ownership of Thai firms to 49%.
Kim Eng Securities said in a note that the Shin shares looked interesting because of third-generation mobile phone licences to be issued to its 43%-owned Advanced Info Service (AIS) and the progress of the iPSTAR satellite business run by its 41%-owned Thaicom.
Shares in Shin, valued at $2.1 billion on the Thai bourse, ended 0.9% higher at 23 baht after touching a 12-month high of 23.30 baht earlier. The overall Thai stock market was 1.3% higher.
The current value of Shin shares is under half the price Temasek paid,49.25 baht, in January 2006.
Shin groups more than 20 companies in the wireless, satellite, Internet and media sectors, with AIS, Thailand's largest mobile-phone operator, contributing more than 80% of its profit.
Legal disputes could slow industry
More legal problems could impede the growth of the telecom industry by preventing the full implementation of three regulations issued by the National Telecommunications Commission, a telecom expert has warned.
Anuparb Thiralarp, a former advisory member of the House Telecommunications Commission, said that at least three NTC regulations were likely to face challenges: mobile number port-ability, interconnection rates and standard contracts for consumers.
The regulation for mobile number portability was issued on July 15 and became law after it was published in the Royal Gazette . It stipulates that mobile operators must be ready for people to use the service within three months,so that from the end of November mobile phone users can switch operators but retain their old numbers, he said.
But private mobile phone operators have insisted they cannot meet the law's timeframe - a central traffic clearing system needs a year to be built and completed - and have informed the NTC, he said.
The NTC's second headache is in-terconnection regulations, which became effective three years ago.
But only three major mobile operators have entered the interconnection regime.
The three operators merely book and clear their interconnection traffic fees on their financial statements as reserved items. The NTC has not penalised private operators that have yet to join the interconnection regime.
A regulation on standard contracts also remains a paper tiger, despite being issued three years ago, he said.
The standard contract between operators and customers is significant because it should protect customers in 11 aspects.
Its clauses prohibit mobile operators from fixing expiry dates on prepaid cards,oblige operators to refund money left on prepaid cards and prevent operators from terminating services while engaged in legal disputes with customers.
Mobile operators submitted copies of their standard contracts to the NTC for approval long ago and are still waiting for its endorsement, he said.
These regulations have yet to be implemented and the consumer protection association on telecom services should speed up the process, he said.
Mr Anuparb predicted legal disputes if customers wanted to take advantage of number portability but operators could not offer it.
The Telecommunications Consumers Protection Institute and the NTC should be ready to receive complaints over this, he said.
Several other problems between operators and customers are yet to be resolved, particularly operators who terminate the fixed-line or mobile services of defaulting customers and then demand fees and unpaid bills to restore services.
The NTC told DTAC to refund a customer over this issue. But DTAC has appealed for a renewed investigation,he said.
This case applied only to DTAC but other operators were still collecting reconnection fees, he said.
Anuparb Thiralarp, a former advisory member of the House Telecommunications Commission, said that at least three NTC regulations were likely to face challenges: mobile number port-ability, interconnection rates and standard contracts for consumers.
The regulation for mobile number portability was issued on July 15 and became law after it was published in the Royal Gazette . It stipulates that mobile operators must be ready for people to use the service within three months,so that from the end of November mobile phone users can switch operators but retain their old numbers, he said.
But private mobile phone operators have insisted they cannot meet the law's timeframe - a central traffic clearing system needs a year to be built and completed - and have informed the NTC, he said.
The NTC's second headache is in-terconnection regulations, which became effective three years ago.
But only three major mobile operators have entered the interconnection regime.
The three operators merely book and clear their interconnection traffic fees on their financial statements as reserved items. The NTC has not penalised private operators that have yet to join the interconnection regime.
A regulation on standard contracts also remains a paper tiger, despite being issued three years ago, he said.
The standard contract between operators and customers is significant because it should protect customers in 11 aspects.
Its clauses prohibit mobile operators from fixing expiry dates on prepaid cards,oblige operators to refund money left on prepaid cards and prevent operators from terminating services while engaged in legal disputes with customers.
Mobile operators submitted copies of their standard contracts to the NTC for approval long ago and are still waiting for its endorsement, he said.
These regulations have yet to be implemented and the consumer protection association on telecom services should speed up the process, he said.
Mr Anuparb predicted legal disputes if customers wanted to take advantage of number portability but operators could not offer it.
The Telecommunications Consumers Protection Institute and the NTC should be ready to receive complaints over this, he said.
Several other problems between operators and customers are yet to be resolved, particularly operators who terminate the fixed-line or mobile services of defaulting customers and then demand fees and unpaid bills to restore services.
The NTC told DTAC to refund a customer over this issue. But DTAC has appealed for a renewed investigation,he said.
This case applied only to DTAC but other operators were still collecting reconnection fees, he said.
AIS cuts revenue target
The mobile market leader Advanced Info Service (AIS) revised down its 2009 revenue growth target and capital expenditure plan in light of the worsethan-expected operating results in the first half.
The company reduced its revenue growth target from a range of 3-4% to between -3% and zero this year. It also trimmed the capital expenditure plan to 11 billion baht from the original 13-15 billion.
However, AIS affirmed its target of free cash flow growth of 15% this year thanks to a 6% reduction in total costs following a series of internal cost-control measures.
Its earnings before interest, taxes,depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)margin also increased slightly to 44.8%in the second quarter, from 42.5% in the same quarter last year.
"The guidance figure reduction was based on the calculated factors of no improvement in second-quarter performance and no clear signs yet of a fast economic recovery," said Pornrat Janejarassakul, vice-president for marketing and planning of AIS.
AIS's net profit fell 33.7% year-onyear to 4.2 billion baht in the second quarter. Revenue fell 6.5% to 23.6 billion baht. First-half net profit was 8.8 billion baht, down 23.5%, on revenue of 47.8 billion, down 6% from a year earlier.
Mr Pornrat attributed the poor performance to a sharp drop in tourist numbers due to political tensions and the H1N1 flu, which resulted in a 34%drop in its international roaming revenue and a 13% drop in international direct dialling earnings.
"The 43% reduction in our international roaming revenue in the second quarter plunged to a record low figure,"he said.
Mr Pornrat said AIS decided to reduce its investment budget in order to match the stagnant growth in the local mobile market. The company spent around 5.9 billion baht on expanding its existing 2G network in the first half.
AIS expects positive growth in the fourth quarter, aided by high seasonal business, economic improvement and a tourism rebound.
This year, AIS expects 3 million new subscribers out of a forecast industry total of 6 million.
However, Mr Pornrat said the number of new subscribers did not necessarily mean business was very healthy as some mobile users now have two or more SIM cards.
For AIS, he said revenue growth provided an indication of business growth.With a 6% reduction in voice revenue in the first half, AIS was shifting its focus to non-voice services with a growth target of 20% this year.
Non-voice revenue now contributes 16% of total revenue for AIS, up from 13% last year.
AIS shares (ADVANC) rose 75 satang yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to close at 89 baht, in trade worth 288.5 million baht.
The company reduced its revenue growth target from a range of 3-4% to between -3% and zero this year. It also trimmed the capital expenditure plan to 11 billion baht from the original 13-15 billion.
However, AIS affirmed its target of free cash flow growth of 15% this year thanks to a 6% reduction in total costs following a series of internal cost-control measures.
Its earnings before interest, taxes,depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)margin also increased slightly to 44.8%in the second quarter, from 42.5% in the same quarter last year.
"The guidance figure reduction was based on the calculated factors of no improvement in second-quarter performance and no clear signs yet of a fast economic recovery," said Pornrat Janejarassakul, vice-president for marketing and planning of AIS.
AIS's net profit fell 33.7% year-onyear to 4.2 billion baht in the second quarter. Revenue fell 6.5% to 23.6 billion baht. First-half net profit was 8.8 billion baht, down 23.5%, on revenue of 47.8 billion, down 6% from a year earlier.
Mr Pornrat attributed the poor performance to a sharp drop in tourist numbers due to political tensions and the H1N1 flu, which resulted in a 34%drop in its international roaming revenue and a 13% drop in international direct dialling earnings.
"The 43% reduction in our international roaming revenue in the second quarter plunged to a record low figure,"he said.
Mr Pornrat said AIS decided to reduce its investment budget in order to match the stagnant growth in the local mobile market. The company spent around 5.9 billion baht on expanding its existing 2G network in the first half.
AIS expects positive growth in the fourth quarter, aided by high seasonal business, economic improvement and a tourism rebound.
This year, AIS expects 3 million new subscribers out of a forecast industry total of 6 million.
However, Mr Pornrat said the number of new subscribers did not necessarily mean business was very healthy as some mobile users now have two or more SIM cards.
For AIS, he said revenue growth provided an indication of business growth.With a 6% reduction in voice revenue in the first half, AIS was shifting its focus to non-voice services with a growth target of 20% this year.
Non-voice revenue now contributes 16% of total revenue for AIS, up from 13% last year.
AIS shares (ADVANC) rose 75 satang yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to close at 89 baht, in trade worth 288.5 million baht.
AIS warms your heart with its latest Personalbutler on-line service
Mr. Somchai Lertsutiwong, Executive Vice President-Marketing, Advanced Info Service Plc. (AIS), recently announced the luanch of AIS newest service called "อุ่นใจช่วยได (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" that takes a role of personal assistant 24 hours a day. AIS customers simply access the website www.ais.co.th/personalbutler to find any information needed such as handset setting, promotion assistant, job search, travel, health and many more.
"อุ่นใจช่วยได้ (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" is accessible from anywhere in the country and also available on mobile phone. To show the company's continual effort and dedication to providing the highest standard of quality service to its customers, this project is therefore introduced to effectively serve AIS customers and enhance customers comfort and convenient. AIS works in close cooperation with a many experienced web partners including www.Tourismthailand. org (travel) www.Guitarthai.com (entertainment-guitar) www.Dhamma4u.com (Dhama), www.Taklong.com (Photography), www.ejobeasy.com (job search), www.cheewajit.com (health) and wwwvcharkam.com (tutors) to ensure a variety of services for AIS customers.
"อุ่นใจช่วยได้ (Aun-Jai-Chouy-Dai)" is accessible from anywhere in the country and also available on mobile phone. To show the company's continual effort and dedication to providing the highest standard of quality service to its customers, this project is therefore introduced to effectively serve AIS customers and enhance customers comfort and convenient. AIS works in close cooperation with a many experienced web partners including www.Tourismthailand. org (travel) www.Guitarthai.com (entertainment-guitar) www.Dhamma4u.com (Dhama), www.Taklong.com (Photography), www.ejobeasy.com (job search), www.cheewajit.com (health) and wwwvcharkam.com (tutors) to ensure a variety of services for AIS customers.
United against spam
The three biggest mobile phone networks agreed to work together on a common goal - to reduce,and then to remove entirely the estimated nine million SMS spam messages sent to yuppiephone owners every day out of the total of 270 million texts;luckily for subscribers, almost all the spam they get is from the mobile phone companies, so this campaign should be a raging success within minutes;operators AIS of Shingapore,DTAC ofNorway and True Move of Thailand promised to spend 30 million baht on anti-spam software for the systems, and to try to block unsolicited messages across networks; special phone lines have been set up so subscribers can call the three companies whenever they want to block a certain spam.
The decidedly discourteous Nawanit Noichana,31, posted a message on Sanook.com forums suggesting that men might want to call a certain Ms Som for free sex, and provided her actual number; Ms Som in fact was totally unavailable and never knew about the message until she started getting nasty messages, courtesy of her old "friend";the judge was quite understanding about it all, and sentenced Nawanit to 12 hours of community service under threat of a one-year suspended jail sentence.
CEO Adisak Sukumvitaya of Jay Mart predicted his firm would quadruple its market share with a new marketing emphasis on its JFone house brand,from 8.5 percent in March to 40 percent by year's end; he claimed that JFones match the leading brands in functionality including 3G compatibility. Electronics manufacturer Stars Microelectronics (Thailand), prospering thanks to global sales of its keypads, announced plans to launch an IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand before the end of September.
World No 1 yuppiephone firm Nokia of Finland warned of "rampant counterfeiting" which might confuse consumers into buying a non-Nokia phone.
Whoa, dood, where's my recession?The Software Industry Promotion Agency reported that the Thai software industry looks likely to grow by six percent this year, outperforming virtually every economic sector; the big reason,said SIPA president Rungruang Limchoopatipa, is heavy demand from neighbouring countries for quality software, digital content and video animation sectors.
Manager Radio , the audio version of ASTV and voice of the yellow shirts and their People's Alliance for Democracy, stuck a sharp stick in the eye of the National Telecommunications Commission; there is no way, said the station's director Kongkiat Buddhalikit,that Manager Radio will pre-register as a community station as the NTC has demanded of every information radio service in the country; Mr Kongkiat told the media that Manager Radio is not a community station according to the NTC's own definition, and will not submit to the commission's authority; according to official figures, Manager was among an estimated 1,000 radio stations holding out on the registration demand,while more than 4,000 stations had succumbed to the demand to register, in return for a temporary one-year broadcast licence; under the licence terms,the NTC can suggest programming to radio stations.
GMM Grammy and RShave found recently that community radio is a great new channel for promoting their music;Soopachai Nillawan, managing director of the RS subsidiary Rsiam, said community radio is especially effective at promoting Luk Thung music, as local disk jockeys become influential with listeners; luckily there is absolutely no chance that any segment of the recording industry would stoop to paying DJs to play their music over that of rivals.
The government announced billions in subsidies to encourage Thais to drive more, and to use more electricity. The government tried to press ahead with promotion of so-called flex-fuel vehicles able to use 85-percent ethanol, but reviving automakers and oil companies said it was far too early to promote alternative energy, since there are almost no vehicles able to use it; Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul asked for lower import duties so that Thais can bring in foreign-made cars instead of buying locally made autos. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand said the government still owes 20 billion baht it has given in fuel subsidies, but Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet went ahead with new subsidies which will further add to the Egat debt by decreasing the cost of fuel tariffs (Ft)on the monthly electricity bills.
The decidedly discourteous Nawanit Noichana,31, posted a message on Sanook.com forums suggesting that men might want to call a certain Ms Som for free sex, and provided her actual number; Ms Som in fact was totally unavailable and never knew about the message until she started getting nasty messages, courtesy of her old "friend";the judge was quite understanding about it all, and sentenced Nawanit to 12 hours of community service under threat of a one-year suspended jail sentence.
CEO Adisak Sukumvitaya of Jay Mart predicted his firm would quadruple its market share with a new marketing emphasis on its JFone house brand,from 8.5 percent in March to 40 percent by year's end; he claimed that JFones match the leading brands in functionality including 3G compatibility. Electronics manufacturer Stars Microelectronics (Thailand), prospering thanks to global sales of its keypads, announced plans to launch an IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand before the end of September.
World No 1 yuppiephone firm Nokia of Finland warned of "rampant counterfeiting" which might confuse consumers into buying a non-Nokia phone.
Whoa, dood, where's my recession?The Software Industry Promotion Agency reported that the Thai software industry looks likely to grow by six percent this year, outperforming virtually every economic sector; the big reason,said SIPA president Rungruang Limchoopatipa, is heavy demand from neighbouring countries for quality software, digital content and video animation sectors.
Manager Radio , the audio version of ASTV and voice of the yellow shirts and their People's Alliance for Democracy, stuck a sharp stick in the eye of the National Telecommunications Commission; there is no way, said the station's director Kongkiat Buddhalikit,that Manager Radio will pre-register as a community station as the NTC has demanded of every information radio service in the country; Mr Kongkiat told the media that Manager Radio is not a community station according to the NTC's own definition, and will not submit to the commission's authority; according to official figures, Manager was among an estimated 1,000 radio stations holding out on the registration demand,while more than 4,000 stations had succumbed to the demand to register, in return for a temporary one-year broadcast licence; under the licence terms,the NTC can suggest programming to radio stations.
GMM Grammy and RShave found recently that community radio is a great new channel for promoting their music;Soopachai Nillawan, managing director of the RS subsidiary Rsiam, said community radio is especially effective at promoting Luk Thung music, as local disk jockeys become influential with listeners; luckily there is absolutely no chance that any segment of the recording industry would stoop to paying DJs to play their music over that of rivals.
The government announced billions in subsidies to encourage Thais to drive more, and to use more electricity. The government tried to press ahead with promotion of so-called flex-fuel vehicles able to use 85-percent ethanol, but reviving automakers and oil companies said it was far too early to promote alternative energy, since there are almost no vehicles able to use it; Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul asked for lower import duties so that Thais can bring in foreign-made cars instead of buying locally made autos. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand said the government still owes 20 billion baht it has given in fuel subsidies, but Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet went ahead with new subsidies which will further add to the Egat debt by decreasing the cost of fuel tariffs (Ft)on the monthly electricity bills.
True reports healthy Q2 on better cost controls
True Corporation reported a strong consolidated net profit of 1.4 billion baht in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 3.5 billion in the same period last year, thanks to a sharp improvement in mobile phone operations together with cost controls and foreign exchange gains.
But revenue was up only 0.3% in the quarter to 15.12 billion - and down 2.8% from 15.56 billion in the first quarter.
For the first half, True recorded a consolidated net profit of 1.043 billion baht, up from a loss of 152 million a year earlier.
President and CEO Suphachai Chearavanont said cost controls and the fourth consecutive reduction of interconnection charges as well as popular 8 Mbps broadband internet service helped the company despite the downturn and low seasonal business.
The group's convergence strategy continued its progress with the number of subscribers using two or more products up 26% to 2 million households.
Revenue in the second quarter, excluding interconnection charges (IC),rose by 0.8% to 12.8 billion baht. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 15.8%year-on-year to 5 billion baht.
At the mobile unit True Move, revenue excluding IC grew 2.4% year-on-year to 5.6 billion baht, thanks to lower net IC payments, costs controls, and a 7.3%increase in non-voice revenue along with strong postpaid subscriber growth.
The company added 243,000 new subscribers in the second quarter,80,000 of whom were postpaid subscribers. Its postpaid subscriber base surged by 50%from a year ago, with postpaid revenue up 16.9% to 1.4 billion baht.
TrueOnline's revenue was 6.5 billion baht, up 2.4%, driven by strong growth in new revenue streams from international direct dialling and data gateway businesses. Broadband revenue also grew 9.8% to 1.3 billion baht with a subscriber base of 647,000, helped by higher revenue from the 8Mbps premium package.
But pay-TV unit TrueVisions reported a 3% drop in revenue to 2.3 billion baht due mainly to the rescheduling of its Academy Fantasia. But its subscriber base increased 37% to 1.6 million.
Noppadol Dej-udom, the chief financial officer, said the second quarter's strong performance was considered a test of True's financial acumen.
The group's long-term debt fell to its lowest level since the 1997 crisis.
"Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio now stands at 3 times, compared to 3.5 times last year," he said, adding that the company wanted to see the ratio at 2.5.
But revenue was up only 0.3% in the quarter to 15.12 billion - and down 2.8% from 15.56 billion in the first quarter.
For the first half, True recorded a consolidated net profit of 1.043 billion baht, up from a loss of 152 million a year earlier.
President and CEO Suphachai Chearavanont said cost controls and the fourth consecutive reduction of interconnection charges as well as popular 8 Mbps broadband internet service helped the company despite the downturn and low seasonal business.
The group's convergence strategy continued its progress with the number of subscribers using two or more products up 26% to 2 million households.
Revenue in the second quarter, excluding interconnection charges (IC),rose by 0.8% to 12.8 billion baht. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 15.8%year-on-year to 5 billion baht.
At the mobile unit True Move, revenue excluding IC grew 2.4% year-on-year to 5.6 billion baht, thanks to lower net IC payments, costs controls, and a 7.3%increase in non-voice revenue along with strong postpaid subscriber growth.
The company added 243,000 new subscribers in the second quarter,80,000 of whom were postpaid subscribers. Its postpaid subscriber base surged by 50%from a year ago, with postpaid revenue up 16.9% to 1.4 billion baht.
TrueOnline's revenue was 6.5 billion baht, up 2.4%, driven by strong growth in new revenue streams from international direct dialling and data gateway businesses. Broadband revenue also grew 9.8% to 1.3 billion baht with a subscriber base of 647,000, helped by higher revenue from the 8Mbps premium package.
But pay-TV unit TrueVisions reported a 3% drop in revenue to 2.3 billion baht due mainly to the rescheduling of its Academy Fantasia. But its subscriber base increased 37% to 1.6 million.
Noppadol Dej-udom, the chief financial officer, said the second quarter's strong performance was considered a test of True's financial acumen.
The group's long-term debt fell to its lowest level since the 1997 crisis.
"Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio now stands at 3 times, compared to 3.5 times last year," he said, adding that the company wanted to see the ratio at 2.5.
Telecom firms flout mobile phone rules
Toothless state agencies are enabling powerful telecom giants to reap huge and unfair revenues from pre-paid mobile phone users, a seminar has been told.
Thousands of customers have complained of unjust treatment by telecom companies through methods such as selling them pre-paid credit for mobile phones which expires before they have a chance to use it, said Thianchai na Nakorn, a member of the National Telecommunications Commission's panel on contract regulation.
More than 1,400 users in the central and eastern regions have claimed they lost credit because of an early expiry date on their pre-paid cards, he said.
Mr Thianchai told a seminar at the NTC on Friday the law was too general to control telecom companies, and state agencies were reluctant to enforce the measures at their disposal.
The NTC and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) are in charge of controlling the industry.
Other mobile phone customers lost money because purchased credits were "not usable". Many customers who paid by the month for their mobile service were forced to accept changes to the terms without notice.
Ninety percent of Thailand's 58 million active mobile phone numbers are paid for on pre-paid credit.
NTC commissioner Sudharma Yoonaidharma said millions of users could have lost money in unused credits.The money went back to telecom businesses as "free revenue".
The NTC issued a notification in 2006 prohibiting licensed operators from setting an expiry date on pre-paid credit services.
However, telecom companies continued to set expiry dates because the fines they face for flouting the notification are too small to act as a deterrent. They also retain any unused credit which customers lose when their prepaid credit expires before it has been fully used.
The 2006 notification does allow the NTC to ask operators to refund unused credits to users, or fine them if they refuse. However, the fines were too small to be meaningful, and the alternative penalty - revoking an operator's licence - too stiff to be useful.
Since the industry is dominated by a handful of big operators, revoking an operator's licence could disrupt services to millions of subscribers and users.
"The NTC wouldn't dare to suspend or halt the operation of a multi-billionbaht business just for this kind of violation," he said.
"It's a problem of how the agency sets its regulations."
The agency normally imposes fines instead, but these are too small to make a difference.
"The NTC needs a law stipulating specific requirements for pre-paid services," he said.
Ronchai Thongsri, an OCPB official,accepted his agency lacked the authority to control service providers.
The OCPB has only one regulation,issued in 2000, which controls contractual obligations for mobile phone services paid for by the month, he said.
It has no regulations governing prepaid services, and is not certain whether it should take a role in regulating this kind of service or leave it to the NTC,the official said.
Mr Thianchai said the OCPB should issue new regulations to give itself more power and keep up with developments in the industry.
Thousands of customers have complained of unjust treatment by telecom companies through methods such as selling them pre-paid credit for mobile phones which expires before they have a chance to use it, said Thianchai na Nakorn, a member of the National Telecommunications Commission's panel on contract regulation.
More than 1,400 users in the central and eastern regions have claimed they lost credit because of an early expiry date on their pre-paid cards, he said.
Mr Thianchai told a seminar at the NTC on Friday the law was too general to control telecom companies, and state agencies were reluctant to enforce the measures at their disposal.
The NTC and the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) are in charge of controlling the industry.
Other mobile phone customers lost money because purchased credits were "not usable". Many customers who paid by the month for their mobile service were forced to accept changes to the terms without notice.
Ninety percent of Thailand's 58 million active mobile phone numbers are paid for on pre-paid credit.
NTC commissioner Sudharma Yoonaidharma said millions of users could have lost money in unused credits.The money went back to telecom businesses as "free revenue".
The NTC issued a notification in 2006 prohibiting licensed operators from setting an expiry date on pre-paid credit services.
However, telecom companies continued to set expiry dates because the fines they face for flouting the notification are too small to act as a deterrent. They also retain any unused credit which customers lose when their prepaid credit expires before it has been fully used.
The 2006 notification does allow the NTC to ask operators to refund unused credits to users, or fine them if they refuse. However, the fines were too small to be meaningful, and the alternative penalty - revoking an operator's licence - too stiff to be useful.
Since the industry is dominated by a handful of big operators, revoking an operator's licence could disrupt services to millions of subscribers and users.
"The NTC wouldn't dare to suspend or halt the operation of a multi-billionbaht business just for this kind of violation," he said.
"It's a problem of how the agency sets its regulations."
The agency normally imposes fines instead, but these are too small to make a difference.
"The NTC needs a law stipulating specific requirements for pre-paid services," he said.
Ronchai Thongsri, an OCPB official,accepted his agency lacked the authority to control service providers.
The OCPB has only one regulation,issued in 2000, which controls contractual obligations for mobile phone services paid for by the month, he said.
It has no regulations governing prepaid services, and is not certain whether it should take a role in regulating this kind of service or leave it to the NTC,the official said.
Mr Thianchai said the OCPB should issue new regulations to give itself more power and keep up with developments in the industry.
HUTCHISON TELECOM SHARES FALL OVER WEAK OUTLOOK
Hutchison Telecommunicatins International's stock fell steeply this week on concern that earnings will decline after the company sold its stake in Israel's Partner Communications, its most profitable unit.
The emerging-market phone carier, controlled by billionaire Li Kashing resumed trading after a one-day suspension on Thursday.
Scailex Corp, an investment firm owned by Israeli entrepreneur Ilan Ben Dov, said it will buy 78.9 million Partner shares, or a 51.3 per cent stake, from Hutchison Telecom at US17 (Bt580) apiece.
After stripping out the contributions from Partner, HTIL is expected to remain loss-making and cash-flow negative for the foreseeable future, Colin McCallum, a Bangkok-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group, wrote in a report.
McCallum kept his "underperform" rating on Hutchison Telecom shares.
Partner, Israel's second biggest wireless carrier, accounted for 58 per cent of Hutchison Telecom's sales of 23.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (Bt104 billion) last year, according to the parent's announcement in March.
Hutchison Telecom will focus on operations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka after the sale of the stake in Partner. Hutchison Telecom will book a pre-tax gain of US$1 billion from the proposed sale, he said.
Hutchison Telecom posted a first-half loss of HK$285 million, compared with a profit of HK$1.17 billion a year carlier, as it increased spending in Indonesia.
The sale price in Israel was "reasonably good", Li told reporters at the results briefing of Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Telecom's parent, reported first-half profit fel 33 per cent to KH$5.75 billion, beating the HK$4.8-billion many analyst were expecting.
The emerging-market phone carier, controlled by billionaire Li Kashing resumed trading after a one-day suspension on Thursday.
Scailex Corp, an investment firm owned by Israeli entrepreneur Ilan Ben Dov, said it will buy 78.9 million Partner shares, or a 51.3 per cent stake, from Hutchison Telecom at US17 (Bt580) apiece.
After stripping out the contributions from Partner, HTIL is expected to remain loss-making and cash-flow negative for the foreseeable future, Colin McCallum, a Bangkok-based analyst at Credit Suisse Group, wrote in a report.
McCallum kept his "underperform" rating on Hutchison Telecom shares.
Partner, Israel's second biggest wireless carrier, accounted for 58 per cent of Hutchison Telecom's sales of 23.7 billion Hong Kong dollars (Bt104 billion) last year, according to the parent's announcement in March.
Hutchison Telecom will focus on operations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka after the sale of the stake in Partner. Hutchison Telecom will book a pre-tax gain of US$1 billion from the proposed sale, he said.
Hutchison Telecom posted a first-half loss of HK$285 million, compared with a profit of HK$1.17 billion a year carlier, as it increased spending in Indonesia.
The sale price in Israel was "reasonably good", Li told reporters at the results briefing of Hutchison Whampoa in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Hutchison Whampoa, Hutchison Telecom's parent, reported first-half profit fel 33 per cent to KH$5.75 billion, beating the HK$4.8-billion many analyst were expecting.
AIS shakes up front office as market sours
Advanced Info Service (AIS), the country's largest mobile phone operator,announced changes in its top management yesterday to deal with economic pressure and stiff competition in the industry.
The reshuffle is another step in the company's long process of positioning itself as a "young" brand.
Under the changes, Wichian Mektrakarn, who is currently the president,will become chief executive officer.He succeeds Vikrom Sriprataks, who will become vice-chairman of the executive committee.
Hui Weng Cheong will be promoted from deputy-president to the newly created position of chief operating officer. In his new role, Mr Hui will take charge of marketing, customer and service management, solutions development and the handset distribution business.
As part of the reshuffle, the president and deputy-president positions will be dissolved in order to streamline operations. The reshuffle will become effective from Sept 1.
Somprasong Boonyachai, the chairman of AIS, said the new structure has been designed to manage future growth opportunities and deal with difficult economic pressure.
Thailand's gross domestic product contracted 7.1% in the first quarter of 2009 and 5.9% in the second quarter.GDP is projected to contract between 2.5% and 3.5% this year, said Mr Somprasong."The recession has caused operators to face a sharp drop in the minutes of calls and international roaming revenues," he said.
The restructure is also to cope with the competitive environment where operators are shifting their focus from acquisition to customer retention.
AIS reduced its revenue growth target from between 3% and 4% to between -3% and zero because of oil prices and H1N1 flu. The company reported a second-quarter profit of 4.2 billion baht,down from 6.3 billion a year earlier and 4.57 billion in the first quarter.Revenue in the second quarter fell 33%.
Mr Somprasong said the mobile phone market was relatively healthy compared with other industries such as hotels and automobiles. However,AIS will be more careful in operating the business in the second half due to the unclear economic outlook.
Mr Somprasong said the reshuffle had nothing to do with the company's poor operating results, insisting it was to lay the foundation for future growth opportunities and empower the top management team.
The move was part of the company's succession plan to have senior executives periodically review their top executives and those in lower levels to determine several backups for each senior position, he said.
AIS shares (ADVANC) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 88.50 baht, down one baht, in trade worth 729.5 million baht.
The reshuffle is another step in the company's long process of positioning itself as a "young" brand.
Under the changes, Wichian Mektrakarn, who is currently the president,will become chief executive officer.He succeeds Vikrom Sriprataks, who will become vice-chairman of the executive committee.
Hui Weng Cheong will be promoted from deputy-president to the newly created position of chief operating officer. In his new role, Mr Hui will take charge of marketing, customer and service management, solutions development and the handset distribution business.
As part of the reshuffle, the president and deputy-president positions will be dissolved in order to streamline operations. The reshuffle will become effective from Sept 1.
Somprasong Boonyachai, the chairman of AIS, said the new structure has been designed to manage future growth opportunities and deal with difficult economic pressure.
Thailand's gross domestic product contracted 7.1% in the first quarter of 2009 and 5.9% in the second quarter.GDP is projected to contract between 2.5% and 3.5% this year, said Mr Somprasong."The recession has caused operators to face a sharp drop in the minutes of calls and international roaming revenues," he said.
The restructure is also to cope with the competitive environment where operators are shifting their focus from acquisition to customer retention.
AIS reduced its revenue growth target from between 3% and 4% to between -3% and zero because of oil prices and H1N1 flu. The company reported a second-quarter profit of 4.2 billion baht,down from 6.3 billion a year earlier and 4.57 billion in the first quarter.Revenue in the second quarter fell 33%.
Mr Somprasong said the mobile phone market was relatively healthy compared with other industries such as hotels and automobiles. However,AIS will be more careful in operating the business in the second half due to the unclear economic outlook.
Mr Somprasong said the reshuffle had nothing to do with the company's poor operating results, insisting it was to lay the foundation for future growth opportunities and empower the top management team.
The move was part of the company's succession plan to have senior executives periodically review their top executives and those in lower levels to determine several backups for each senior position, he said.
AIS shares (ADVANC) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 88.50 baht, down one baht, in trade worth 729.5 million baht.
AIS NAMES WICHIAN AS CEO, LOOKS AHEAD TO 3G
Advanced Info Service (AIS) will try its best to maintain its good performance and customer base this year, despite the revision of the company's revenue outlook for the year to negative growth.
Chief executive officer-designate Wichian Mektrakarn spoke yesterday, adding that the country's largest cellular operator would move faster in delivering services to the market.
On Thursday the AIS board of directors approved the appointment of three executives to new posts, to be effective September 1.
Wichian, who is AIS existing president, was approved to be chief executive officer, replacing Vikrom Sripataks. Wichian will be responsible for leading the AIS business operations and subsidiaries.
Vikrom was approved to be vice chairman of the executive committee in charge of strategic direction.
Deputy president Hui Weng Cheong was approved to be chief operating officer.
Vice chairman of the board, Somprasong Boonyachai, said that the appointments were not the company's reaction to the negative economic outlook but in line with the management succession plan.
According to an AIS filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, it has revised the service revenue growth outlook this year down to between minus 3 per cent to zero from the previous forecast of between 3-per-cent and 4-per-cent growth. This is to reflect the weaker-than-expected financial result in the first half and expected slow economic recovery in the second half.
It also revised down capital expenditure to Bt11 billion this year from the previous Bt13 billion to Bt15 billion. Of the total, Bt6 billion were spent in the first half.
AIS said the 3G licence will be the key milestone this year, as AIS is working closely on all fronts to ensure the highest possibility of attaining the new licence. It expects the National Telecommunications Commission to auction 2.1GHz-3G spectrum licences in the first quarter next year.
AIS posted consolidated net profit of Bt4.197 billion in the second quarter this year, decreasing 33.7 per cent year on year, due to the seasonally weak quarter and economic decline. For the first half, net profit was Bt8.765 billion, a decrease of 23.5 per cent year on year. AIS has around 27.9 million subscribers.
Chief executive officer-designate Wichian Mektrakarn spoke yesterday, adding that the country's largest cellular operator would move faster in delivering services to the market.
On Thursday the AIS board of directors approved the appointment of three executives to new posts, to be effective September 1.
Wichian, who is AIS existing president, was approved to be chief executive officer, replacing Vikrom Sripataks. Wichian will be responsible for leading the AIS business operations and subsidiaries.
Vikrom was approved to be vice chairman of the executive committee in charge of strategic direction.
Deputy president Hui Weng Cheong was approved to be chief operating officer.
Vice chairman of the board, Somprasong Boonyachai, said that the appointments were not the company's reaction to the negative economic outlook but in line with the management succession plan.
According to an AIS filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, it has revised the service revenue growth outlook this year down to between minus 3 per cent to zero from the previous forecast of between 3-per-cent and 4-per-cent growth. This is to reflect the weaker-than-expected financial result in the first half and expected slow economic recovery in the second half.
It also revised down capital expenditure to Bt11 billion this year from the previous Bt13 billion to Bt15 billion. Of the total, Bt6 billion were spent in the first half.
AIS said the 3G licence will be the key milestone this year, as AIS is working closely on all fronts to ensure the highest possibility of attaining the new licence. It expects the National Telecommunications Commission to auction 2.1GHz-3G spectrum licences in the first quarter next year.
AIS posted consolidated net profit of Bt4.197 billion in the second quarter this year, decreasing 33.7 per cent year on year, due to the seasonally weak quarter and economic decline. For the first half, net profit was Bt8.765 billion, a decrease of 23.5 per cent year on year. AIS has around 27.9 million subscribers.
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