He said the package was launched last Saturday on the back of similar promotions by Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move on Friday.

"We want to show that we can compete with our competitors' hourly rates. Our package will change perceptions that the AIS service is more expensive," he said.

Subscribers to the new package will receive a call bonus of Bt50 a month for six months.

DTAC's chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya yesterday said DTAC would not cut its rates further to match the AIS package.

True Move's marketing director Suphakit Vuntanadit said the company would wait and monitor the situation before making any decision.

On Friday DTAC introduced a new prepaid call package that charges Bt2 for the first hour and Bt3 per minute thereafter.

The DTAC offer came on the heels of AIS's prepaid and post-paid packages introduced last week that offer bottom-rate charges of Bt0.25 per minute and Bt1 per minute, respectively, for new subscribers.

The country's third biggest cellular operator, True Move, also launched a prepaid package last week, offering unlimited free calls between 8am and 4pm every day for Bt199 per month.

Calls outside this period are charged at a rate of Bt5 for the first minute and Bt1 for each additional minute. AIS's move was prompted by a need to employ more aggressive marketing strategies because it is facing challenges from activist groups that are campaigning to boycott products linked to its parent firm, Shin Corp Plc.

The boycott call began after the families of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the Damapongs sold off a combined 49.6-per-cent stake in Shin to Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings in January.

The activists regarded the deal, which included Shin satellite and TV businesses, as a sale of national assets.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation