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.