First pure Hotmail in Thai

BANGKOK: -- Microsoft (Thailand) and the True Internet service provider will today officially launch the first pure Thai-language-MSN Hotmail service, with huge storage space for heavy e-mail users.

Subscribers will need to buy pre-paid cards for the new service, which features 2 gigabytes of storage space, the capacity to send and receive attachments up to 20 megabytes and a local domain name of “.co.th”.

Microsoft’s standard English-language free Hotmail service has 2 megabytes of storage space.

The new e-mail service includes enhanced spam and virus protection and a pop-up advertisement blocker, said Andrew McBean, Microsoft Thailand’s managing director.

The service is not aimed at free e-mail users, but at surfers in need of the latest features and huge storage capacity, said Chanchai Phansopha, chief marketing officer of Microsoft Thailand.

“After a survey, we discovered demand for the service and people said they were willing to pay,” he said.

There are around 1.7 million active free Hotmail subscribers in Thailand. True Internet, formerly known as Asia Infonet, will sell the Bt179 prepaid cards good for 90 days of usage through 3,000 retail outlets, including 7-Eleven, True Corp Plc and TA Orange stores.

Chanchai said if a customer used the Thai Hotmail service for a while and stopped buying the prepaid cards, their account would be kept for 60 days before being terminated.

If the service proves successful, Microsoft Thailand would launch other prepaid cards with longer use periods, so that users do not have to buy the cards so often.

-- The Nation 2004-07-31

Seems a bit steep... and account temination after only 60 days??? Wont be rushing out for this one.