DTAC 'lines up blackberry launch' this year

The Partner Market agreement enables DTAC to have exclusive access to Vodafone's range of products, devices and services in Thailand and to draw on Vodafone's experience in supply chain management and technology development.

DTAC's chief commercial officer, Thana Thienachariya, declined to confirm the launch of the BlackBerry service. He said BlackBerry devices are gaining popularity in Thailand.

Advanced Info Service and True Move have already launched their cellular service on the BlackBerry smartphones.

International Data Corp Thailand recently forecast sales of 400,000 smart phones of all brands in the Kingdom this year, a 35-per-cent increase from the 320,000 sold last year.

Meanwhile, DTAC's Happy prepaid phone service late last week introduced the "Wrong Call Refund" service as part of its customer relationship management (CRM) programme to retain customer base.

The service offers refunds to customers who dial wrong numbers while connecting any cellular and fixed telephone networks on the condition that their wrong calls last no longer than one minute each, and not more than two times per month.

To be eligible for the privilege, customers should press *100 after calling a wrong number and the system will make the refund within 24 hours.

"As the mobile-phone business is approaching saturation, it is essential to please customers to retain their loyalty," Thana said.

Currently DTAC has over 18 million mobile-phone subscribers.

Ketchayong Skowratananont, Head of DTAC's Happy Business Division, said that this year the mobile-phone industry was seeing fierce competition in CRM.

The refund service is part of Happy's Jaidee (generosity) programme, which has continued to roll out new services since May 2003.

In 2004, it introduced the "Jaidee Hai Yuem" (emergency refill) service that lends emergency call credits to customers whose call credits are running out. In 2005, it launched the "Jaidee Plae Hai" (translation) service that offers Thai and English translation service for everyday conversations.

In 2007, it launched the "Jaidee Hai Oan" (balance transfer) service, which enables customers to transfer call credits to Happy phone numbers. In the same year, it also introduced the "Jaidee Jaek Won" (day give-away) service that extends the duration of call credit validity.

DTAC said Jaidee services are used at least 86 million times per month.