Biz Buzz
Railway poles old but proving useful now
We hear people complaining a lot about static development of Thailand’s railway network, which some say hasn’t changed since King Chulalongkorn kicked off the locomotive age a century ago.
But for Interlink Communication Plc, the rail system has given it an edge over its rivals.
“Our strong point is that nobody else has [our fibre optic cable network that runs on] the railway network,” Interlink director Nuttanai Anuntarumporn at a Stock Exchange of Thailand event last week.
“You see power poles on streets removed everyday but railway poles have stood solid for 100 years.”
Interlink won a 30-year exclusive concession from the State Railway of Thailand to run its fibre optic cable along the railway poles, while all of its competitors lay their cables along roads.
Language skills not such a necessity
There have been many changes at the top of Bayer Thai – with its first woman chief executive Celina Chew promoted to become the big boss of the German life science firm’s greater China business.
There is no news of her successor yet.
Nearly a year ago, the Thai subsidiary also welcomed its new communications head, Grace Lee, the first Taiwanese to hold the position. She succeeded Nat Lohsuwan, who left to join PTT Exploration and Production Plc.
Although Lee realises she will need to learn some Thai, she has found it difficult to find the spare time to do so as she travels all the time.
She is the company’s communications head for north Asean, which covers Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Much of her time is spent in Vietnam, where she oversees the setting up of the communications team.
Lee has managed to learn some important Thai words including: “Mai sai pong chooros na ka” (no MSG please) as she discovered most Thai dishes are cooked with MSG. Once she was shocked to see a cook pour two spoons of MSG into a noodle dish.
Contributed by Pichaya Changsorn
