B-Mobile reduces roaming charges with Thailand (Bhutan)
Bhutan Telecom has reduced mobile roaming charges to Thailand for its B-Mobile service. Roaming charges between Bhutan and AIS (Thai GSM) will be reduced with effect from 1st June 2011.
In the event, the subscribers need to inquire about any product or service they can contact the Roaming Coordinator at 332730 or the Marketing Division at 322515 or contact customer care at 1600 (Toll Free).
ICT ministry intends to undo concession amendments (Thailand)
Thailand’s ICT ministry has proposed the Cabinet reverses amendments made to telecommunications concessions.
According to ICT minister Chuti Krairiksh, he would not submit the proposal to the Cabinet in this government’s term. The proposal pursue the failure of a government committee to attain a contract with the private mobile operators on how they will reimburse state-owned telecommunications firms TOT and CAT Telecom for the losses caused by the concession amendments.
The committee recently stopped discussions with Advanced Info Service (AIS), DTAC, TrueMove, and Digital Phone as it could not reach a contract.
The committee’s proposal is in proportion to the conclusions of the public-private panels formed under the Public-Private Joint Venture Act to oversee the concessions. Their opinion was that if TOT and CAT fail to fail to secure damages for the concession amendments, they should think restoring the amendments to their original form. The Council of State ruled in 2007 that some concession amendments did not comply with the Public-Private Joint Venture Act.
Concession damage estimate for AIS raised to $2.91 bln (Thailand)
The estimate of the damage toTOT caused by amendments to the concession of private mobile operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has been raised to US$2.91 billion.
According to TOT board director Prapan Boonyakiat, the previous estimate stood at US$2.19 billion.
TOT has sent the revised figure to the committee formed by the ICT ministry that is looking to claim damages from all private operators to compensate for the losses suffered by state communications firms TOT and CAT Telecom caused by concession amendments.
Samart to partner with TOT on 3G services (Thailand)
Samart aims to become a strategic partner with TOT to provide 3G mobile broadband services under the revised MVNO model.
According Watchai Vilailuck, the president of Samart, the strategy is part of the company’s policy to position Samart I-Mobile, its mobile distribution flagship, as a full mobile operator. Samart I-Mobile was focusing on mobile multimedia service this year with TOT 3G a highlight. TOT is preparing to enhance its 3G service with a planned reorganisation of its MVNO structure.
It envisions creating three MVNO categories, including strategic partners, conventional MVNOs and resellers. Under the new categories, a strategic partner will work closely with TOT in network expansion, marketing and other activities.
A conventional MVNO would provide services as well as having its own billing system. And a reseller would sell 3G Sim cards on behalf of TOT.
Thaicom sees Q2 loss to narrow (Thailand)
Thaicom PCL’s Chief Investment Officer Tanadit Charoenchan has stated that the company expects its loss to narrow in the second quarter from the US$5.5 million recorded in the January-March period.
According to Charoenchan, they still won’t be able to see a profit in the second quarter, but the size of loss will be substantially lower, possibly only half of the first quarter loss.
The company posted a loss in the first quarter because of low usage of its iPSTAR broadband satellite and the weak performance of its mobile phone unit in Cambodia, where competition is fierce.
He stated that however, earnings improvement is expected in the following quarters on the back of greater utilization of its iPSTAR broadband satellite. The company should swing to a profit in the third quarter and remain in the black in the final quarter.
He reiterated that the company will likely achieve its 30% revenue growth and return to profit this year after posting a loss of US$26.05 million last year. Thaicom expects to almost double iPSTAR’s utilization rate to 30% by end-2011 from 15.9% at end-March.
The company is 41.1% owned by Shin Corp. PCL, controlled by units of Singapore’s state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte.
He added that earlier this month, the company secured a A$100 million five-year deal with NBN Co. to provide broadband services via iPSTAR to rural and remote areas in Australia. Including the NBN deal, iPSTAR’s utilization rate will rise to 19.28%.
The company is expected to start realizing revenue from the NBN project from the third quarter onwards.
Thaicom expects to conclude a satellite deal with a major Malaysian telecom operator soon.
Thaicom is currently negotiating with satellite manufacturers for the potential launch of a new conventional satellite, to be used mainly for broadcasting, at an estimated cost of around $150 million to $200 million. The company needs approval from the Thai government before it can conclude any deal.
Airtel unveils Wave as brand logo (India)
Bharti Airtel has unveiled Wave as the name for its new symbol. The name for the company’s logo was selected through an online contest, which the company had started six months back. Mukesh Chauhan, an engineer working with a company in Noida, india, was declared as the winner of the contest for suggesting the name.
Chauhan has won a vacation of approximately 30 days to Thailand. In addition, five voters selected by Airtel will get a Samsung Galaxy Tab each.
TOT mulls legal action against Ericsson (Thailand)
TOT is planning legal action against Ericsson over its case against TOT seeking to block the award of a 3G network tender.
Two groups, one led by Ericsson and one by ZTE, were disqualified from participating in TOT’s tender auction during the tender process and launched legal proceedings against TOT which delayed the latter’s awarding of a contract to roll out a nationwide 3G network, consequently delaying the project.
According to reports, the TOT board has now allowed management to seek compensation for potential losses from the delay by the equipment suppliers.
As per TOT spokesperson Prapan Boonyakiat, the company will also provide a case study of how to undertake a vendor pre-qualification process for future projects.
ZTE was disqualified for providing unrealistic financial calculations while Ericsson was disqualified for failing to submit catalogues for antenna-related products in its bid. Both companies filed suits with the Central Administrative Court seeking to nullify the tender auction due to irregularities.
ZTE withdrew its case in April, which enabled TOT to sign a contract with the winning consortium of Samart Telcom and Loxley recently.
True introduces promotion for credit card holders (Thailand)
True has started a promotion where by the customers are offered a special benefits to Krungsri Group credit card holders.
Customers who apply for the TrueLife Freeview pay-TV package, will get free installation, two months free TV services and calling, and an additional 120 minutes of TrueMove on-net calls. The promotion is available until 31 August.
SingTel ended Q1 with 403 mn mobile subs (Singapore)
SingTel group has ended its first quarter with 403 million mobile customers in 25 countries which rose by 37% year-on-year.
Bharti’s total mobile customer base reached 212 million from its operations across Asia and Africa with an increase of 66 percent, while its India mobile customer base expanded 27 percent to 162 million.
Telkomsel in Indonesia added 5.4 million mobile customers in the quarter bringing the total to 99.4 million and AIS in Thailand ended the quarter with 32 million mobile customers, increased by 8 percent year-on-year.
Philippines’ Globe had 27.3 million mobile customers, an increase of 14 percent and Warid in Pakistan had a mobile customer base of 17.8 million, up 9 percent from from a year ago.
In Bangladesh, Citycell’s (PBTL) total mobile customer base declined by 6 percent to 1.8 million due to a change in the regulatory definition of active customer base.
Optus in Australia saw its customer base exceed 9 million as the operator added 103,000 new customers in the quarter. The number of 3G customers increased to 5.09 million, a 41 percent increase from a year ago.
SingTel’s operation in Singapore achieved its highest quarterly postpaid net addition in ten years as the company gained 51,000 new postpaid customers. Total net adds for the quarter stood at 78,000 bringing SingTel’s total customer base to 3.31 million.
National Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate CAT CEO (Thailand)
National Anti-Corruption Commission (Thailand) has set-up a committee to investigate CAT Telecom chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong in connection with the deals the company entered into with TrueMove on 3G services.
In addition to the CEO, CAT board directors will also be investigated. The move is in line with a recommendation of the Senate’s corruption investigation panel, which looked into the deals.
On 27 January, CAT signed a number of contracts with True on the resale of 3G services as well as leasing of 3G network equipment.
The deals have drawn scrutiny from various government agencies and rival DTAC is seeking an injunction to stop the deals in the Central Administrative Court, which will decide on 18 May on whether to grant the injunction.
