Briefs
GHB board chooses bank president
The Government Housing Bank’s board of directors yesterday agreed on the proposed appointment of Chatchai Sirilai as the bank’s new president. Chatchai was senior executive vice president of GHB’s credit business unit.
After this, the subcommittee for remuneration will negotiate his compensation package and forward the result to the board for approval. Then, after the Bank of Thailand offers its opinion, the Finance Ministry and the Cabinet will be asked to approve the appointment.
AIS ordered to test model after explosion
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has ordered Advanced Info Service (AIS) and its handset-maker partner Lava International (Hong Kong) to have one Lava model tested at a specialised lab after one of them owned by a villager in Chachoengsao reportedly exploded while its battery was being charged.
The test results must be reported to the NBTC in two weeks, said its secretary-general, Takorn Tantasith.
AIS has provided a new mobile phone to the affected villager.
Lava is one of the in-house handset brands AIS is offering on a subsidy basis to encourage its remaining 11 million 2G subscribers to migrate to its wireless broadband networks.
10M 4G subscribers
Advanced Info Service has targeted 10 million 4G subscribers this year after it launched a fourth-generation service late last month, according to Titipong Khiewpaisal, senior vice president for marketing.
AIS will expand its 4G network to cover 59 provinces by the end of this month from the present 17 provinces before covering 77 provinces by May. It has launched 4G data roaming services in 52 countries.
Honda car exports up
The value of Honda automobile exports from Thailand last year grew by 19 per cent to Bt83.1 billion, largely on increasing demand for its City model in Mexico and the HR-V model in Australia. Total exports of Honda completely built units in 2015 increased by 44 per cent in value to Bt37.9 billion as compared with the previous year. The City, HR-V and CR-V were top export models, accounting for around 70 per cent of the total.
Thaicom profits boosted by booked-up satellite
Thaicom last year boosted its consolidated net profit 32.5 per cent to Bt2.122 billion on the booking of its Thaicom 7 satellite’s entire capacity as well as growth in international business.
However, separate net profit fell 22.0 per cent to Bt794 million due to exchange rate fluctuations and an impairment loss on investment in an Australian subsidiary.
The company will still pay a Bt0.65-per-share dividend to shareholders pending their approval at their annual meeting next month.
Paiboon Panuwattanawong, chief executive officer, said yesterday that the company’s broadcast business saw significant growth, with improved signal and more channels.
Thaicom’s satellite TV channels have grown from 702 to 792, with 126 HD channels.
Thaicom 7 is now fully booked and there is already more demand for Thaicom 8, which is under production and slated to launch in the first half of this year.
The company is looking into the feasibility of Thaicom 9 as well as other future satellites.
Thaicom 7 was orbited in September 2014.
Thaicom 8 will carry 24 Ku-band transponders covering Thailand, South Asia and Africa.
Thais are among sweetest lovers: MasterCard
As much as 80 per cent of Thais intend to buy gifts for their valentines, especially flowers and jewellery, according to MasterCard.
Its survey of cardholders’ spending behaviour during Valentine’s Day indicated that Thais are some of the sweetest lovers in Asia-Pacific.
They are heavy spenders on flowers and jewellery, averaging Bt4,850 on them, while over half of Thais find the day perfect for marriage proposal.
Cardholders in the region spent more – 23 per cent – on Valentine’s Day in 2015 than in 2013. About 84 per cent prefer to shop on Valentine’s Day in person rather than rely on the Internet.
Most Asia-Pacific lovers spend less on flowers and cards than do Thais.
Dragonair rebranded as Cathay Dragon
The Cathay Pacific Group yesterday announced that its sister airline Dragonair would be rebranded as Cathay Dragon. The two will remain as separate airlines, operating under their own licences. Cathay Pacific’s presence will combine its international recognition and leverage with Cathay Dragon’s unique connectivity into mainland China. Since Dragonair became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific in 2006, it has added 23 new destinations and the number of passengers travelling across both carriers had grown five times to more than 7 million in 2015. The combined annual passenger numbers of the two airlines grew from 22 million to more than 34 million last year.
