Briefs

Thaicom, one of Asia’s leading satellite operators, has entered a multi-year agreement with Somaliland National Television, the official public broadcaster of Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia.
Thaicom currently broadcasts 15 TV channels in East Africa on its broadcast platform at 78.5 degrees east longitude.
 Under the terms of the agreement, Thaicom will provide SLNTV with C-band capacity on the Thaicom 5 satellite and a complete end-to-end solution that includes the design, installation and commissioning of the uplink facility.
The turnaround service for global distribution of SLNTV’s programming is facilitated on Thaicom’s multiple-channels-per-carrier transmission platform.
The global beam coverage on Thaicom 5 spans four continents, providing services to viewers in Asia, Europe, Australia and Africa. Thaicom satellites broadcast nearly 800 TV channels in standard- and high-definition formats.

KBANK EXTENDS CREDIT COST

Kasikornbank has raised its expected credit cost this year to 190 basis points from the previous target of 170 basis points and lowered its net-interest-margin forecast to 3.3-3.5 per cent from 3.4-3.6 per cent to comply with increased reserves and the impact from lower lending interest rates.
KBank’s board yesterday approved the new financial targets for this year and informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
The bank has maintained a loan-growth target of 6-7 per cent and a non-performing-loans target of 3.5 per cent.
In the first quarter, the NPL ratio rose to 2.81 per cent from 2.7 per cent and loan-loss provisions surged to Bt11.2 billion from Bt4 billion year on year, said Adit Laixuthai, senior executive vice president.
Teeranun Srihong, president of KBank, recently said the bank should require high loan-loss provisions until the third quarter as a prudent measure.

SAMART LAUNCHES DIGITAL TV INSTALLATION SERVICE

Samart Engineering yesterday launched a new service for the installation of digital TV systems and the provision of related solutions, aiming to tap more than 300,000 hotels and apartments nationwide.
The new service, a joint venture with Hi Solution, a specialist in TV system installation, is expected to generate Bt100 million in annual revenue for Samart Engineering Co, a subsidiary of Samart Corp.
“Our service solution will cover the broadband Internet service in the near future,” said Samart Corp president Watchai Vilailuck.
 “The total market share is around Bt1 billion, of which we hope to secure around 50 per cent.”
Sales of digital TV set-top boxes contribute about 50 per cent of company’s revenue, with about 1 million units sold each year, followed by sheet-metal products, metal-switch controls and metal-server packs for all kinds of equipment. It has set a revenue target of Bt700 million for the current year.

POWER CONSUMPTION HITS ANOTHER HIGH

The continuing hot weather and extended drought raised electricity consumption to a new high of 29,403.7 megawatts yesterday, the sixth new high this year and the fourth consecutive peak day, as the average temperature nationwide soared to 37.8 degrees Celsius.
 Soonchai Kumnoonsate, governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, said yesterday’s peak was reached at 2.23pm. The figure for Wednesday was 29,249.4MW.
High temperatures, the extended drought and school closures have pushed electricity consumption to new highs. However, power consumption next month should fall slightly thanks to Labour Day and two traditional national holidays, Egat says.