Serving the nation

       Your CAT board of directors gave an ultimatum to the underwhelming team in charge of the CDMA yuppiephone service available and widely ignored in 51 provinces, and currently along with Hutch ranked as No 4 in the nation: Give us 500,000 customers by the end of the year, or you will be revamped; board spokesman Krisada Kaweeyarn refused todefine "revamped," but it can't be good; the CAT board noted that the managers are adding about 5,000 users a month to the claimed 350,000 subscribers, when the three leading services are gaining that many subscribers in a typical day;meanwhile Hutch, available in 25 provinces in and around Bangkok, claims to have about 900,000 users.
       Your CAT Telecom announced it will try to push Hutchison Group out of the Bangkok-area CDMA service by New Year's Eve; the ever-rancorous Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia firm known as Hutch is 75 percent owned by the Hong Kong firm, but CAT has wanted it all for some time.
       No 1 yuppiephone network Advanced Info Service of Shingapore gave yet more gloomy news to its shareholders;managers revised revenue growth and planned expenditures downward again,given a horrible first quarter; Pornrat Janejarassakul, president for vice, said it had reduced total costs in a companywide belt-tightening, and still expected to make its target of 15 percent rise in free cash flow; but profit was down 33.7 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.2 billion baht, and revenue fell 6.5 percent to 23.5 billion; it that was bad, Mr Pornrat saved the worst for last:"The 43 percent reduction in our international roaming revenue in the second quarter plunged to a record low." No 3 yuppiephone firm True Move of Thailand reported that revenue in the second quarter grew 2.4 percent year on year to 5.6 billion baht; interconnection charges were down, the company ordered in-house belttightening, and non-voice revenue grew by a healthy 7.3 percent.
       Also smiling was Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) governor Sombat Sarntijaree; electricity usage in August was up by two percent,the first rise in almost a year; Mr Sombat believes that is a sign the economy is coming back; the country burned up almost 8.3 billion kilowatt/hours in the first 20 days of August; that was higher than consumption last October, when electricity use began to fall each month,year on year; annual economic growth is still well below zero.
       Four seats are coming vacant on the National Telecommunications Commission, and the frantically busy Information and Communications Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee was working hard to fill them; until she does, the NTC will continue its hard work with just three members; three of the original Magnificent Seven drew short straws to see who would be first to end their terms, and a fourth seat was left vacant when board member Artorn Chantvimol resigned; at the moment,35 people have applied to serve the nation selflessly as NTC members.The National Telecommunications Commission managed to register 4,500 community radio stations in its scheme to control the airwaves; the NTC convinced almost all owners of stations that if they did not register, they would be deemed illegal; the NTC has decreed that the stations can continue to broadcast for a year without any sort of licence,although the commission also claims the right to close any station for broadcasting bad stuff; it is not known how many stations rejected the NTC control,although the voice of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) flatly refused to register.
       Asia Books , a success story in the 20th century, blamed a drop in tourists for flat sales so far this year; sales to foreigners have dropped 30 percent since January, with sales to Thais up by 10 percent, although managing director Phumate Manuphibul said prospects for the second half of the year look brighter; some wonder, however,whether Asia Books' reluctance to get into the e-book business has some effect.Electronics manufacturers reported their sales were rising again, and collectively they are using 80 percent of capacity as third-quarter performance built on the recovery in the second quarter; big firms like Cal-Comp Electronics (Thailand)and Western Digital saw surging profits in the second quarter, and are taking on staff again to keep up with demand,especially from overseas.
       Kodak (Thailand), which can hardly sell a camera any more, said it expects 2009 revenue to at least match last year's mark, by stressing printing of photos;the company is pushing Kodak Kiosk and Kodak Express Digital Online, and claims customers love the convenience;by next month, Kodak should have kiosks in post offices. Photos flourish on paper, and so does advertising;Thailand Post said actual mail delivery rose from 1.05 billion letters in 2005 to 1.3 billion last year; but the type of letter has changed;"The number of letters has increased over the past four years,but most of them are business letters,"said Wiboon Sereechaiporn, assistant president for vice; most letters these days are company mail and advertising,as people move to the computer for their correspondence.