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.