Three biggest malls to get fuss-free wi-fi

Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC), TOT and TrueMove H are investing a total of about Bt60 million in setting up Wi-Fi networks in the three shopping centres with 350 hot spots at 100 megabits per second.

Chadathip Chutrakul, chief executive of Siam Piwat, said the three downtown shopping centres served 500,000 people per day with more than 1,000 shops.

"It is a trend that shopping centres have to facilitate their shoppers with high-speed wireless connections. Ours are the first three shopping centres [in Bangkok] to encourage the collaboration of all Wi-Fi service providers to offer wireless connectivity for our customers," Chadathip said.

Customers of any of the four service providers will be able to tap into the Wi-Fi network with their username and password. They can do this anywhere in the malls, without the need to hunt for a hot spot run by the service they subscribe to. The system is designed so that the various Wi-Fi frequencies do not clash with one another. Pratthana Leelapanang, AIS vice president for value-added service, said it had 8 million data users, about 200,000 of whom use AIS Wi-Fi package services.

"This partnership is to enhance customers’ experience. This is the starting point for a long-term partnership," Pratthana said.

He added that currently AIS had 50,000 hot spots around the country. By next year, the company plans to increase its Wi-Fi coverage into 200 more places. It is testing its Wi-Fi service at Suvarnabhumi Airport with 300 hot spots. It also plans to increase the number of Wi-Fi subscribers to 400,000 by next year.

"Our goal is to enhance mobile data usage for our more than 30 million subscribers. Wi-Fi is very helpful to facilitate them to enjoy mobile data usage even if they have Edge or 3G packages. With our packages at Bt550 and up, customers can use AIS Wi-Fi with unlimited usage," Pratthana said.