"We must return to improving our image, instead of focusing only on marketing activities," vice president for marketing Titipong Khiewpaisal said yesterday.

AIS's reputation for quality service has been tattered recently, due to the occasional congestion plaguing its network.

The new prepaid plan, which will be offered from next Monday, will charge Bt3 per call from midnight to 2pm. During the peak hours of 2pm to midnight, the rate will be Bt3 for the first minute, Bt2 for the second minute and Bt1 for each subsequent minute per call.

The current promotion that expires on Sunday charges a flat Bt2 per hour per call.

The new promotional package will be available for four months.

Titipong said whether AIS would continue charging the higher call rates depended on reactions by competitors to this plan.

Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer of Total Access Communication (DTAC), said AIS and DTAC had both been avoiding offering hard-hitting campaigns aimed at encouraging calls during peak hours, in order to relieve the strain on their networks.

He said if True Move decided to counter by launching a heavily discounted promotional package, DTAC would have to match it.

AIS executive vice president Wichian Mektrakarn said $231 million to be spent on increasing network capacity comes on top of $450 million already budgeted for network-coverage expansion for this year. The additional amount is needed to restore successful-call rates of AIS subscribers to normal.

The success rate for calls within the AIS network has been running at 87.4 per cent, a drop from 96 per cent during the normal period, while the success rate to other operators is 57.8 per cent, a steep fall from 85 per cent.

"We'll see a significant improvement in call quality around late July to early August," said Wichian.

He said the new investment would enable the AIS network to handle an average of 4.5 minutes per call, based on the existing network's capacity to serve 18.3 million subscribers, up from 2.5 minutes per call at present.

AIS has more than 16.6 million subscribers.

AIS has faced serious subscriber complaints for two months about the deteriorating quality of its network. The three big cellular operators - AIS, DTAC and True Move - introduced dirt-cheap calling packages early this year, sparking a phenomenal surge in traffic over their networks.

Early this month, the AIS network was hit by a technical glitch that blocked calls from almost 2 million of its prepaid phone users for a few days. AIS has compensated each one with a Bt50 call bonus.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation