AIS CEO lauds new structure

AIS is also drafting a five-year business plan for 2017-21.
The company has promoted Hui Weng Cheong to president from chief operating officer. The appointment took effect on Saturday.
Somchai described AIS under Hui’s helm as a big warship with greater strength.
Hui, a representative from Singapore Telecom, AIS’s strategic partner, joined AIS in 2006.
His rise to president has prompted speculation by some industry observers that SingTel wants to take a more active role in AIS’s management.
In August, SingTel said it was acquiring a 21-per-cent stake in Thailand’s Intouch Holdings and a further 7.4-per-cent stake in India’s Bharti Telecom from Temasek Holdings, SingTel’s major shareholder.
The aim was to increase its economic exposure to the high-growth telecom industries in Thailand and India.
SingTel already owns 23.3 per cent of AIS, while Intouch holds 40.4 per cent. Aspen Holdings, which is associated with Temasek, owns 40.5 per cent of Intouch.
Somchai said he drew up the new AIS management structure two months ago without knowing anything about SingTel’s plan to acquire shares of Intouch.
“We worked with AIS’s leadership development compensation committee to work out this new structure,” he said.
He added that in his view it would be difficult for any foreigner to head AIS in the future, since the CEO had to deal with complicated legal issues and government agencies.
“In my opinion, the CEO position should be for a Thai executive,” he said.
The new structure will give Somchai more time to expand AIS’s businesses, as Hui will take over responsibility for marketing, customer service, telecom network development and the development of digital applications and solutions.
Weerawat Kiattipongthaworn, a senior executive vice president, has been appointed as chief corporate officer, overseeing all business partners, including government agencies, legal affairs and new business opportunities.
He reports directly to Somchai.
AIS is recruiting a chief strategy officer. Somchai is acting as chief strategy officer.
The new structure is expected to be in place more than two years.
AIS would be able to maintain its share of the revenue from the mobile phone service market this year at 50 per cent, at least, Somchai said.
It now expects low single-digit growth this year, instead of flat revenue as forecast.
A telecom analyst put AIS’s share of the revenue in this market as of the second quarter at 49.7 per cent, followed by Total Access Communication (DTAC) at 26.7 per cent and of True Corp at 23.5 per cent.
Somchai said that for competition next year, AIS would launch more packages, featuring bundled services and contents, both of its own and of its partners.
AIS has developed various kinds of new mobile contents with partners.
Its fibre-optic Internet broadband business under the AIS Fibre brand is also aggressively attracting subscribers.
AIS Fibre is expected to see 300,000 subscribers by year-end, up from 200,000 now.