NEW DELHI, India—The two leading GSM operators in Thailand, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and DTAC, announced new investments in network expansion and marketing, anticipating the entry this quarter of a third formidable player, CP Orange.
AIS said it would spend 17.6 billion baht (US$399 million) this year to improve and promote its cellular services and offer new Internet Protocol (IP) network services. Rival DATC announced last week that it would spend about 1.4 billion baht (US$31.8 million) on advertising to capture a bigger market share.
AIS Chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said in Bangkok that the new investment would be in network expansion, software improvement and advertising.
Both the leading players are stepping up their advertising budgets to retain their respective market shares in the wake of CP Orange’s entry. CP Orange began a soft launch in December by giving free handsets to some 60,000 employees of the CP group. The commercial launch is expected in the first quarter of 2002.
In addition to CP Orange, two other players slated to join the market are Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia and ACT Mobile, promoted by government-owned telecom companies.
