Market leader AIS splurges Bt500m on rebranding
Thailand's largest cellular operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has spent about Bt500 million on its rebranding programme, which is expected to be completed within this year.
The move is aimed at erasing the public perception that it has political connections, reflected also in the change of Shin Corp group’s corporate logo to the InTouch logo in April this year in a bid to reflect a more friendly and optimistic image.
As part of the rebranding, AIS has switched to the InTouch logo after having used the previous logo for the past 21 years.
AIS is the cellular flagship of Shin. The Shin empire was founded by the Shinawatra family of former prime minister Thaksin. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is former AIS president.
AIS chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS has always been uncompromising in the development of its service to customers throughout |the past 21 years. It has significantly fuelled growth in the telecommunications industry.
AIS, which has more than 30 million mobile-phone subscribers, will also expand its existing third-generation 900-megahertz network to 3,500 base stations from the present 1,884 bases in several major provinces. The expansion is expected to be finished next April when the network will have the capacity to serve 6 million users, up from the current capacity to serve 2.2 million users. AIS has targeted 1 million 3G subscribers this year before rising to 2 million next year, up from 890,000 at present.
The cellular operators are waiting for the upcoming National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to get off the ground to auction the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum licences.
Wichian added that AIS’ business growth still has momentum, while the competition in the wireless broadband service market is getting fiercer.
AIS is closely monitoring the possible impact on its revenue target for this year from the heavy flooding in many provinces.
