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Technology Thailand

Where Thais and technology clash

by Jesada Chandraprasert, Thailand

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AIS is Asean Mobile Operator of the Year

Jun 30, 2008 11:12

Thailand's AIS has been crowned Asian Mobile News' Asean Mobile Operator of the Year. This underlines AIS' commitment toward excellence and recognizes its position as one of the industry leaders in Thailand. Personally, I think there is more that AIS can do. With the upcoming auction/talent show for Thailand's 3G spectrums, AIS has this opportunity to properly deploy a nationwide 3G network and repair some of the loss of face from minimal subscriber support for its 3G pilot programs in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

With Dtac and Truemove having now established their networks throughout Thailand, it is harder for AIS to claim exclusivity in hard-to-reach corners of the country. AIS has always been seen as an expensive brand and it will be hard to change that image. This image has stuck with it since the early days when AIS was years ahead in service and coverage over what was then TAC (now Dtac). Because it was first to go GSM and put an end to cell phone hijacking, it was able to command a higher service charge for the security, coverage and "cutting-edge" services like SMS. It was the first to go 2.5G with EDGE also.

Being the center of attention during the last military coup and charges against former PM Taksin Shinawatra, AIS has kept itself low-key. It now looks to make the most of this award by continuing to stage a comeback and push against its upper market image. Spearheaded by its One-2-Call prepaid brand, AIS aims to push into the budget market which is seeing True Move make its move into (pun not intended) by coupling its True Visions UBC cable TV service with a fully featured SIM card that is loaded with subscriber tools for everything, from adding channels to your monthly package, to voting on True Academy Fantasia (Thailand's Idol program).

Prior to the former PM selling his Shincorp, UBC was also owned by Shincorp, and this came under the same umbrella as AIS but had never been capitalized on in such an in-your-face way--the way True is doing so at the moment.

AIS has always prided itself on being innovative and ground-breaking in Thailand. With this award, and also with Thailand's Most Admired Brand award it received earlier, its time to get its act together and to live up to its larger-than-life image and bring back value to its subscribers.

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