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Published on November 12, 2007

When True provided a TV, satellite dish and its educational TV programmes to Wat Phlaeng elementary school in Ratchaburi last week under its "Plook Panya" ("Planting Wisdom") project, some students said they had not known what the company was all about.

"I know only True Move. My parents are subscribers because its call rate is very low," said Tanapol Kamlamai, 11.

Whether the schoolchildren know that True Move belongs to True may not be that important to True's chief executive Supachai Chearavanont, who said the project was not a marketing activity but a channel to show goodwill to society.

"We hope that if one day the company experiences any crisis, people will still support our group," he said.

Last week True gave a similar set of equipment to Suan Phueng School, also in Ratchaburi.

The company started the Plook Panya

programme last month when it gave a set

of equipment to a grammar school in Ayutthaya.

Supachai believes TV is an effective medium that can bring knowledge to children and can, with good programmes, broaden their world view.

The other major private telecom firms, Advanced Info Service and Total Access Communication, have their own CSR programmes to give something back to society.

Supachai said True had set a budget of Bt20 million this year and an annual budget of Bt50 million to promote CSR activities, mostly for the Plook Panya project. It intends to increase its CSR budget when profits increase.

"We plan to introduce the Plook Panya programme to 800 elementary schools this year and 10,000 in three or four years," Supachai said.

True's businesses range from the telephone service provided by True and the cellular service by True Move to broadband Internet access by True Internet and pay TV by True Visions.

True will give broadband Internet connections and more educational content to the schools under the Plook Panya project, Supachai said.

However, CSR is not enough to build the company's brand if it cannot ensure service quality, he said.

"I know that if we cannot provide reliable service, we'll be unable to sustain our brand image."

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation