AIS deal for assumption

AIS's assistant vice president for corporate sales, Waroonthep Watcharaporn, said the company expected 20,000 Assumption University students to apply for the package.

The free post-paid SIM card, with an airtime rate of Bt149 monthly, allows users to call other AU UTown SIM mobile-phone users free of charge, 24 hours a day. The card has a one-year validity.

The cellular operator has launched similar packages already but with prepaid SIM cards and with varied airtime rates to 145 universities countrywide. Currently 200,000 students are users of the special SIM cards.

The AU UTown SIM card also allows users to wirelessly pay for products and services available in Assumption University's online 3-D virtual university community, called U Town.

The online venue, launched last year, was developed jointly by the university and IT firm Digicrafts (Thailand) for Bt15 million. University students and others can open online shops in the venue, which now has 100,000 registered members. They include 50,000 active members, of whom 20,000 are Assumption University students.