HOME REVIEW
The Thailand Development Research Institute explained that you have been over-charged by your enthusiastic yuppiephone company for the past two years; TDRI said the mobile operators are deliberately miscalculating the so-called call-termination rates when you call from one company's network to another; while your mobile company is paying 14 to 27 satang for the "service", it is charging you one baht - and that is a few kilos of rice over two years for many phone users; Somkiat Tangkitvanich, TDRI vice-president, tattled to the National Telecommunications Commission; he said that if the NTC just sits on his report, consumers should head for the Administrative Court and open lawsuits against their mobile phone companies.
Taking into account that it's the information age and all, government spokesman Nattawut Saikua announced a new route for people to send suggestions and ideas to the men and women who run this country: PO Box 33, Don Mueang.
The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation noted that His Majesty the King was a "remarkable" inventor and proponent of intellectual property and selected him for the Global Leaders Award; Francis Gurry came all the way from Wipo headquarters, and presented the award, which was received by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn on behalf of His Majesty. The International Federation of Inventors Associations of Hungary, which boosts patent laws, declared the permanent International Inventors' Day will be Feb. 2, which already is Inventors Day in Thailand; it marks the day in 1993 when His Majesty the King received a patent on the Chaipattana low-speed surface aerator for khlongs (canals) and rivers.
In a huge, shock surprise, an actual study by paid researchers working for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific - Escap, headquarters Bangkok - concluded basically that some Asian countries have more and better Internet access and mobile phone service than some other Asian countries; this hugely interesting study found fewer than one per cent of the population uses the Internet in Burma, Timor-Leste, Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia; you would never guess that citizens of New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia have it better, and aren't we lucky the UN has money for studies to expose such facts?
The board of the Government Lottery Office voted to recommend that the government go ahead with the so-called "online lottery"; GLO chairman Piyaphan Nimmanahaeminda said the Loxley Gtech consortium had done everything properly and had every right to run the lottery - never mind the threat to sue for two billion baht if it is cancelled; Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech is one of many who oppose any more government-backed gambling.
Look, said Information and Communications Technology Minister Mun Patanotai, it's time the National Telecommunications Commission and National Broadcasting Commission were merged and start handing out third-generation phone and WiMax Internet operating licences - mid-2009 at the latest; to show he was serious, Mr Mun took his demand to the cabinet; to show the NTC and NBC were serious, NTC "telecom expert" Kittin Udomkiat explained there were a lot of technical issues, and it all takes time.
Look, said Information and Communications Technology Minister Mun Patanotai, we can't go around willy-nilly letting those foreigners into our telecoms, and allowing aliens to own more than 49 per cent of any telecommunications firm is folly; he was opposing a recommendation by the Thailand Development Research Institute vice-president Somkiat Tangkitvanich, who said majority ownership by foreign firms would help to lift growth in the telecoms industry and bring cheaper, better service for consumers; he taunted opponents, saying Thai firms could compete with foreign competition, did Mr Mun and others think Thai telecom executives were so stupid?
Speaking of mergers and the efficiency of government regulation, the Thailand Development Research Institute reported that the re-proposed merger of your TOT and your CAT Telecoms duopoly would be about as useful as a fifth tyre on the prime minister's car; Somkiat Tangkitvanich, another TDRI vice-president, said that after studying the 20 years of merger proposals, he couldn't think up a single advantage - not even a better price for a stock exchange listing, another 20 year suggestion; it would be great to cut staff at the hugely bloated state enterprises, but unions would never allow that, merger or not.
BlueAnt Wireless of Australia began selling its Bluetooth headsets in Thailand for 3,990 baht, its first attempt to extend its business into the Asia Pacific market. The Seagate Technology (Thailand) factory in Nakhon Ratchasima won the Thai Labour Standard Certificate (TLS. 8001-2003) Basic Level from the province for allegedly decent labour relations, protection, safety and occupational health.
Yes, news of the recession reached No. 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Singapore, but AIS is going to spend 400 million baht next year anyhow, to upgrade its customer relationship management (CRM) services; Vilasinee Puddhikarant said CRM is a core business strategy no matter how bad the economy gets.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Next
