Toppings for toast?

[Jonathan Fairfield]

AIS has plans in place to keep 2G-900MHz subscribers from straying

USANEE MONGKOLPORN

THE NATION

BANGKOK:-- ADVANCED Info Service has several plans to hold on to around 11 million of its 2G-900MHz subscribers amid possible attempts by rivals to lure them away from AIS after its failure to win a licence on the 900-megahertz spectrum last week.

AIS chief executive officer Somchai Lertsutiwong said that even without the 900MHz licence, AIS could still maintain its market leadership with 52 per cent of the revenue.

"Though this 2G customer group does not contribute huge revenue to us, only around Bt15 billion per year or 15 per cent of our annual total, we want to keep them with us," he said.

Jasmine Mobile Broadband of Jasmine International and True Move H Universal Communication of True Corp each won a 900MHz licence last week. Once either of them pays the first instalment of the licence upfront fee to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, AIS will have to shut down its 900MHz service.

Of AIS's 38 million subscribers, 11 million use its second-generation 900MHz service. Of those 11 million, 1 million are still in its 900MHz network and 10 million on the wireless broadband network of its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) but they still roam with AIS's 2G network.

AIS has announced an offer of subsidised 3G and 4G handsets to those 11 million subscribers to move them to AWN. Somchai said this subsidy programme would cost AIS around Bt8 billion. The campaign will be launched today.

"On December 25, we'll send SMS' to them or call them to inform them about the offer," he said.

"We believe that rivals are looking to woo this group of our subscribers. If they do so, they will have to make a better offer than ours, and that means they will have to spend more than us [on the offer]. We believe they cannot afford to do that as they will spend heavily on the licence upfront payment," Somchai said.

He added that AIS had sufficient numbers of subsidised handsets available for these customers.

He forecast that the revenue of the telecom sector next year would grow by 3-4 per cent. The market next year will mainly still be for 3G service. It will take about a year for 4G service to see a full uptake.

He expects that AIS and TOT will sign a partnership contract next quarter to offer 3G service on the 15MHz the state agency holds on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum.

He believes that the next rounds of spectrum auctions will come soon, before the expiry of the Total Access Communication (DTAC) concession. AIS will definitely take part in those auctions.

DTAC's concession will end in September 2018.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/AIS-has-plans-in-place-to-keep-2G-900MHz-subscribe-30275622.html

-- The Age 2015-12-25