IN BRIEF
BUSINESS FALLOUT: Anti-Thaksin campaign takes toll on AIS numbers, staff morale
Mobile-phone operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) has admitted that the political turmoil has affected its business and employee morale.
An executive source at AIS said it was hard to know how many subscribers had left AIS's network as a protest against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra."Not all customers have told us why they are leaving, and we'll have to wait until the end of the first quarter to see the full impact," he said. Another AIS source said some customers were switching to other networks for political reasons, but they numbered only a few. The company claims to sign in around 100,000 net new customers a month and have about 16.5 million subscribers. ELECTION DAY: Anfrel urges postponement The Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel) yesterday called on the Election Commission to postpone the April 2 poll. Anfrel said it wanted all parties to join and resolve the crisis. "If the EC lets the election run it will affect the Senate elections on April 19. If the EC cannot solve this problem, it will lose face," the statement said. If the EC goes ahead with the snap election, Anfrel said it would have to justify the money spent on a subsequent election. ELECTORAL COMPLAINT: Senators slandered Thaksin: TRT The Thai Rak Thai Party yesterday filed an electoral complaint against three senators who spoke this week at an anti-government rally. Lawyer Prasop Budsarakham said Chirmsak Pinthong, Manoonkrit Roopkachorn and Pichet Pattanachote had slandered the prime minister on Tuesday when they said he had destroyed the democratic system and interfered in the Senate. "We consider these words untrue, so we sent a letter to the chairman of the EC," Prasop said.
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