Thaicom Plc says it needs to lease a foreign satellite to continue services during the transition period between the scheduled expiry of its Thaicom 2 satellite next year and the replacement Thaicom 6 coming on line.
A company executive outlined the scenario after the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) ministry said leasing a foreign satellite could breach the concession, which stipulates Thaicom must build new satellites as backups for others nearing the end of their service.
He said Thaicom had planned to launch Thaicom 6, which has more than 20 transponders in both the C and Ku bands, to replace Thaicom 2.
Building the new satellite and launching it would take at least three years,said the executive, who asked not to be named.
However, the period could be shortened through buying a new satellite or acquiring an existing one and shifting it to Thaicom's orbit, which would take less than one year.
He said that Thaicom 5 needed a year to fine-tune its antennae and launch into orbit.
In any case, he said, there would be a transition period in which Thaicom could not service all its customers and would need to lease a satellite instead.But this does not preclude Thaicom from launching a new satellite under its con-cession during that period.
Thaicom has leased transponders from Vina Sat of Vietnam to provide services to customers for several months to cope with demand, which now exceeds the potential of Thaicom 5(iPSTASR), which was fully used.
He said Thaicom had sought advice from the ICT ministry on a lease but had received no reply.
Thaicom previously leased a Malaysian satellite to provide services when its Thaicom 3 developed a power-supply problem and was de-orbited in 1995,and in 2003 it leased IntelSat for more than a year.
The company's concession will expire in 12 years but Thaicom wants some clear direction now, as satellite contracts are long-term, some up to 10 years.
Sue Lor-uthai, the ICT permanent secretary said the concession required Thaicom to build new satellites to back up old ones at least two years before the old units go out of service.
He said leasing a foreign satellite to replace Thaicom 2 would breach the agreement.
Thaicom has proposed to the ministry that if it has to build a new satellite, then it should be allowed to continue its local monopoly.
That would require an amendment of the concession agreement and cabinet endorsement, he said.
Shares of Thaicom (THCOM) closed on the SET at 7.50 baht, down 20 satang,in trade worth 37.6 million baht.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
ICT prepares solutions for Thaicom concession
The Information and Communi-cations Technology Ministry is expected to wrap up next month ways to solve problems relating to the Thaicom concession.
Nimit Damrongrat, adviser to the ministry, said the solutions would be presented to the minister, Ranongruk Suwanchawee, who would consult Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva before the ministry submits them for Cabinet's approval later.
But he declined to specify the details of the solutions, just adding that they would be the best way out for both the government and Thaicom.
He said one of the urgent problems is that the life of Thaicom 2 satellite would end next year. Thaicom had already sought the ministry's permission to lease a transponder service from a foreign satellite to provide the service to the existing customers of Thaicom 2 after Thaicom 2's life ends.
He added that though Thaicom has a plan to build a new satellite to replace Thaicom 2 it has not provided clear details to the ministry. He is concerned that the government might lose satellite concession revenue of Bt200 million per year if there is no back-up satellite for Thaicom 2. Thaicom has paid a total concession fee of around Bt500 million per year to the ministry.
Nimit said that according to his understanding of Thaicom's concession, the company had to build the back-up satellite to replace the one that would be discontinued or failed to provide service.
He added that if Thaicom leases the transponder service from other satellites to provide the service, the act would make the company look like it is the service provider, not the satellite operator.
The ministry owns Thaicom's concession. Thaicom currently owns Thaicom 1, 2, and 5 broadcasting satellites, and iPSTAR broadband satellite. The company finished migrating Thaicom 1 customers to Thaicom 5 as the life of Thaicom 1 will end late this year.
The other problem for the Thaicom concession is the question if it has the back-up satellite for iPSTAR satellite.
According to its concession, the back-up satellite for Thaicom 1 is Thaicom 2 and that for Thaicom 3 is Thaicom 4 or iPSTAR. But it built Thaicom 5 to replace Thaicom 3, which was disconnected in 2006, due to serious glitches.
Earlier Thaicom argued that the concession only stated that the company has to provide back-up satellite channels for customers in case its satellites fail to provide service. It had complied with the contract by providing a back-up satellite for customers affected by the failure of Thaicom 3.
Nimit declined to specify the solutions on this matter.
Nimit Damrongrat, adviser to the ministry, said the solutions would be presented to the minister, Ranongruk Suwanchawee, who would consult Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva before the ministry submits them for Cabinet's approval later.
But he declined to specify the details of the solutions, just adding that they would be the best way out for both the government and Thaicom.
He said one of the urgent problems is that the life of Thaicom 2 satellite would end next year. Thaicom had already sought the ministry's permission to lease a transponder service from a foreign satellite to provide the service to the existing customers of Thaicom 2 after Thaicom 2's life ends.
He added that though Thaicom has a plan to build a new satellite to replace Thaicom 2 it has not provided clear details to the ministry. He is concerned that the government might lose satellite concession revenue of Bt200 million per year if there is no back-up satellite for Thaicom 2. Thaicom has paid a total concession fee of around Bt500 million per year to the ministry.
Nimit said that according to his understanding of Thaicom's concession, the company had to build the back-up satellite to replace the one that would be discontinued or failed to provide service.
He added that if Thaicom leases the transponder service from other satellites to provide the service, the act would make the company look like it is the service provider, not the satellite operator.
The ministry owns Thaicom's concession. Thaicom currently owns Thaicom 1, 2, and 5 broadcasting satellites, and iPSTAR broadband satellite. The company finished migrating Thaicom 1 customers to Thaicom 5 as the life of Thaicom 1 will end late this year.
The other problem for the Thaicom concession is the question if it has the back-up satellite for iPSTAR satellite.
According to its concession, the back-up satellite for Thaicom 1 is Thaicom 2 and that for Thaicom 3 is Thaicom 4 or iPSTAR. But it built Thaicom 5 to replace Thaicom 3, which was disconnected in 2006, due to serious glitches.
Earlier Thaicom argued that the concession only stated that the company has to provide back-up satellite channels for customers in case its satellites fail to provide service. It had complied with the contract by providing a back-up satellite for customers affected by the failure of Thaicom 3.
Nimit declined to specify the solutions on this matter.
LG plans more after-sales service
LG Electronics (Thailand) aims to set up eight LG Mobile Brand shops in Bangkok within this year with a total budget of around Bt20 million to strengthen its brand image and after-sales service.
Somsak Athisaitrakul, Product Group Head (Mobile Communication) senior manager, said four shops were recently opened in major shopping malls. The others will be gradually opened by the end of this year to cover major areas in Bangkok. The shops feature the expericence zone and the service zone. The experience zone is where all the latest LG Mobils-phone models are available for customers to directly experience the products, while the service zone offers after-sales servies.
He added that the company's enhancement of after-sales service follows increase in sales of LG mobile phones.
Currently the company has nine major after-sales service centres and over 200 authorised service dealers nationwide.
Regarding the market competition, he said LG has mainly focused on competing with major international brands, not local brands.
The company plans to roll out between 12 to 15 new mobile-phone models in Thailand in the second half, almost the same number as in the first half. Most of the upcoming models will be in the mid-price and high-price ranges and with touch-screen feature.
Some local mobile-phone brands have gained high popularity among the Thai consumers, due to their rich features but affordabel prices.
Somsak Athisaitrakul, Product Group Head (Mobile Communication) senior manager, said four shops were recently opened in major shopping malls. The others will be gradually opened by the end of this year to cover major areas in Bangkok. The shops feature the expericence zone and the service zone. The experience zone is where all the latest LG Mobils-phone models are available for customers to directly experience the products, while the service zone offers after-sales servies.
He added that the company's enhancement of after-sales service follows increase in sales of LG mobile phones.
Currently the company has nine major after-sales service centres and over 200 authorised service dealers nationwide.
Regarding the market competition, he said LG has mainly focused on competing with major international brands, not local brands.
The company plans to roll out between 12 to 15 new mobile-phone models in Thailand in the second half, almost the same number as in the first half. Most of the upcoming models will be in the mid-price and high-price ranges and with touch-screen feature.
Some local mobile-phone brands have gained high popularity among the Thai consumers, due to their rich features but affordabel prices.
AIS BOARD APPROVES RESTRUCTURING
The board of Advanced Info Service has approved a restructuring of the company's top management.
The country's largest cellular operator will officially announce the changes today.
The board has decided to promote AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn to CEO, replacing Vikrom Sripataks, a board source said yesterday.
Vikrom is being promoted to a newly created post as vice chairman of the executive committee, while AIS deputy president Hui Weng Chong is being promoted to another new post, that of chief operating officer, the source said.
The promotions will take effect on September 1, the source added.
The management restructuring is aimed to further strengthen AIS's operations so that it can cope with intensifying market competition and prepare for the move into third-generation (3G) wireless-broadband business.
The National Telecommunications Commission will auction four of the 2.1-gigahertz 3G licences, but it has yet to specify a date.
AIS's parent, Shin Corp, recently appointed AIS chief marketing officer Sanchai Thiewprasertkul as acting managing director of its advertising firm, SC Matchbox, following the recent resignation of Seksun Oonjitti.
In a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, AIS posted a consolidated second-quarter net profit of Bt4.197 billion, down 33.7 per cent year on year. For the first half, net profit was Bt8.765 billion, a fall of 23.5 per cent from Bt11.456 billion.
Shin's satellite business, Thaicom, generated consolidated revenue of Bt1.753 billion from the sale of goods and services in the second quarter, up 6.1 per cent year on year, due to higher revenue from both the satellite and the telephone businesses.
Thaicom's foreign-exchange gain of Bt364 million led to a net profit of Bt199 million. This compares with a net loss of Bt282 million in the same period last year, when it had a foreign-exchange loss of Bt437 million.
The unit operates the Thaicom 1A, Thaicom 2 and Thaicom 5 conventional broadcasting satellites, as well as the iPSTAR broadband satellite.
Thaicom chief finance officer Tanadit Charoenchan yesterday expressed confidence that iPSTAR bandwidth demand would continue to grow.
iPSTAR service revenue was Bt510 million in the second quarter, up 10.6 per cent year on year, following increasing bandwidth usage in the major markets of Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and New Zealand.
iPSTAR is expected to start providing the service in India this year.
Thaicom has yet to decide whether to send up a new satellite to replace Thaicom 2 or lease a foreign satellite's transponders to provide continued broadcasting services to Thaicom 2 customers. The lifespan of the satellite expires next year.
It has already finished migrating the Thaicom 1A customers to Thaicom 5, as the former's lifespan ends late this year.
AIS closed at Bt89.50 yesterday, up from Bt88.50 the day before. Thaicom closed at Bt6.85, up from Bt6.70.
The country's largest cellular operator will officially announce the changes today.
The board has decided to promote AIS president Wichian Mektrakarn to CEO, replacing Vikrom Sripataks, a board source said yesterday.
Vikrom is being promoted to a newly created post as vice chairman of the executive committee, while AIS deputy president Hui Weng Chong is being promoted to another new post, that of chief operating officer, the source said.
The promotions will take effect on September 1, the source added.
The management restructuring is aimed to further strengthen AIS's operations so that it can cope with intensifying market competition and prepare for the move into third-generation (3G) wireless-broadband business.
The National Telecommunications Commission will auction four of the 2.1-gigahertz 3G licences, but it has yet to specify a date.
AIS's parent, Shin Corp, recently appointed AIS chief marketing officer Sanchai Thiewprasertkul as acting managing director of its advertising firm, SC Matchbox, following the recent resignation of Seksun Oonjitti.
In a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, AIS posted a consolidated second-quarter net profit of Bt4.197 billion, down 33.7 per cent year on year. For the first half, net profit was Bt8.765 billion, a fall of 23.5 per cent from Bt11.456 billion.
Shin's satellite business, Thaicom, generated consolidated revenue of Bt1.753 billion from the sale of goods and services in the second quarter, up 6.1 per cent year on year, due to higher revenue from both the satellite and the telephone businesses.
Thaicom's foreign-exchange gain of Bt364 million led to a net profit of Bt199 million. This compares with a net loss of Bt282 million in the same period last year, when it had a foreign-exchange loss of Bt437 million.
The unit operates the Thaicom 1A, Thaicom 2 and Thaicom 5 conventional broadcasting satellites, as well as the iPSTAR broadband satellite.
Thaicom chief finance officer Tanadit Charoenchan yesterday expressed confidence that iPSTAR bandwidth demand would continue to grow.
iPSTAR service revenue was Bt510 million in the second quarter, up 10.6 per cent year on year, following increasing bandwidth usage in the major markets of Australia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and New Zealand.
iPSTAR is expected to start providing the service in India this year.
Thaicom has yet to decide whether to send up a new satellite to replace Thaicom 2 or lease a foreign satellite's transponders to provide continued broadcasting services to Thaicom 2 customers. The lifespan of the satellite expires next year.
It has already finished migrating the Thaicom 1A customers to Thaicom 5, as the former's lifespan ends late this year.
AIS closed at Bt89.50 yesterday, up from Bt88.50 the day before. Thaicom closed at Bt6.85, up from Bt6.70.
Higher bandwidth sales help Thaicom break even
Thaicom Plc, the country's sole satelliteservice provider, expects to break even this year following several consecutive quarterly losses, helped by higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite.
First-half bandwidth sales this year increased 27.5% from the second half of 2008. The growth rate is expected to double to 50% in the second half of 2009, driven by high demand from India.
"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15% this year, up from 10%currently, which allows our 45-gigabit satellite to break even," said Tanadit Charoenchan, executive vice-president for finance of Thaicom.
Thaicom yesterday reported a profit of 199 million baht in the second quarter,compared with a loss of 282 million in the same period last year and a loss of 220 million in the first quarter. Revenue in the second quarter rose 3.4% yearon-year to 1.75 billion baht, of which 510 million came from iPSTAR earnings.
For the first half the company reported a consolidated net loss of 21.54 million baht, compared with a loss of 1.14 million a year earlier. The company has 1.217 billion baht in cash with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54 times.
Mr Tanadit said revenue in the second half was expected to jump significantly,fuelled mainly by expected strong demand from China and India. Thaicom has two gateways in Mumbai and Delhi each with a combined seven-gigabit capacity.
He said Australia was another potential market thanks to the government's policy of promoting high-speed broadband internet usage.
Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines will also be key markets for iPSTAR bandwidth leasing next year.
Mr Tanadit attributed the revenue improvement to the company's new policy that focuses on providing bandwidth rental service from iPSTAR rather than increasing one-time user sales that provided a lower margin.
Thaicom also implemented a business restructuring plan that focused on more specific service segments. The company grouped its satellite commercial services into two segments: conventional broadcast services for its Thaicom 1,2 and 5,and broadband and internet protocol services served by the iPSTAR broadband satellite.
Thaicom shares (THCOM) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 6.85 baht, up 15 satang, in trade worth 108.5 million baht.
First-half bandwidth sales this year increased 27.5% from the second half of 2008. The growth rate is expected to double to 50% in the second half of 2009, driven by high demand from India.
"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15% this year, up from 10%currently, which allows our 45-gigabit satellite to break even," said Tanadit Charoenchan, executive vice-president for finance of Thaicom.
Thaicom yesterday reported a profit of 199 million baht in the second quarter,compared with a loss of 282 million in the same period last year and a loss of 220 million in the first quarter. Revenue in the second quarter rose 3.4% yearon-year to 1.75 billion baht, of which 510 million came from iPSTAR earnings.
For the first half the company reported a consolidated net loss of 21.54 million baht, compared with a loss of 1.14 million a year earlier. The company has 1.217 billion baht in cash with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54 times.
Mr Tanadit said revenue in the second half was expected to jump significantly,fuelled mainly by expected strong demand from China and India. Thaicom has two gateways in Mumbai and Delhi each with a combined seven-gigabit capacity.
He said Australia was another potential market thanks to the government's policy of promoting high-speed broadband internet usage.
Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines will also be key markets for iPSTAR bandwidth leasing next year.
Mr Tanadit attributed the revenue improvement to the company's new policy that focuses on providing bandwidth rental service from iPSTAR rather than increasing one-time user sales that provided a lower margin.
Thaicom also implemented a business restructuring plan that focused on more specific service segments. The company grouped its satellite commercial services into two segments: conventional broadcast services for its Thaicom 1,2 and 5,and broadband and internet protocol services served by the iPSTAR broadband satellite.
Thaicom shares (THCOM) closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 6.85 baht, up 15 satang, in trade worth 108.5 million baht.
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