Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) expects AIS's revenue in the first quarter to be about Bt23 billion, up 3 per cent on the previous quarter.

Its net profit is expected to be Bt3.6 billion, up 13 per cent from the previous quarter but down 31 per cent from the Bt5.29 billion net profit posted in the same period last year.

Thanks to continued marketing campaigns, AIS is expected to show a net gain of 1.13 million subscribers in the quarter, increasing its customer base to 20.65 million, Kim Eng said.

The brokerage house said the end of a price war towards the end of the quarter would raise AIS's monthly average revenue per user, which had been affected earlier in the period.

AIS is expected to announce its first-quarter results on May 11.

The company has yet to decide whether to collect its interconnection-charge revenue from rival operators Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move, the settlement of which falls due at the end of this month.

Complying with the interconnection regulations of the National Telecommunications Commission, mobile firms started billing each other for such charges in February, but AIS is waiting for its concession owner, TOT, to confirm whether paying these charges would breach its concession contract.

Introduced last May, the interconnection charge aims at equitable sharing of voice and data revenue from calls between different networks. The three major cellular operators signed bilateral interconnection deals late last year.

Telecom analysts estimate that AIS, the country's largest cellular operator, will be the net gainer from the interconnection charges, to the tune of Bt3 billion to Bt5 billion per year.

United Securities expects AIS's first-quarter net profit to be Bt3.76 billion, up from Bt3.139 billion in the previous quarter.

The value of AIS stock yesterday remained unchanged at Bt75.50.