No strings attached
AIS ups the ante with another aggressive promotion, but denies it will clog networks
Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) has introduced new prepaid promotional call packages for existing subscribers as part of an aggressive marketing campaign, and insists the move will not lead to overloading at cellular networks.
AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn said yesterday that AIS was confident the call congestion that plagued the nation's cellular systems during an industry price war earlier this year would not resurface.Under its new prepaid promotion for existing subscribers, calls cost Bt5 for the first minute and 25 satang for subsequent minutes for calls to any network, regardless of the time of day. The promotional period will end on December 31. Last week AIS introduced a prepaid call package for those who buy new SIM cards. The call rate is Bt1 per call during off-peak hours and Bt1 per minute during peak hours. The rate applies to calls to all networks. The promotional period will end next month. Wichian claimed that the package for new users had already attracted 100,000 new subscribers out of the total target of 800,000. Last week's package prompted the third-largest cellular operator, True Move, to seek help from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which True asked to look into whether jams in all networks would result if the dominant player initiated a price war. Wichian said he hoped that the NTC would apply regulations on all telecom operators on a fair basis, adding that AIS was not the first to initiate price dumping but that it always follows the moves of competitors.Yesterday the second-largest cellular operator, Total Access Communication (DTAC), asked all cellular operators to keep monitoring their networks to prevent possible jamming during the price war. AIS spent Bt33 billion this year alone expanding its network capacity to be able to serve 24 million subscribers at the end of this year, up from the present capacity of 20 million. AIS has more than 17.5 million subscribers, while DTAC has more than 10 million and True Move more than five million. Wichian said AIS was expanding its direct network links with True Move and DTAC to prevent network congestion. Weerawat Kiattipongthaworn, acting executive vice president for operations at AIS, claimed that the daily success rates for calls within the AIS network and between other networks were more than 98 per cent and 96 per cent respectively. Early this year all cellular operators jumped into a price war featuring a minimum call rate of 25 satang per minute and no charges after a certain number of minutes, which caused congestion in all cellular networks. Sirivish Toomgum, The Nation
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