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COMMUNICATIONS
SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN
True International Communication Co, the international direct dialling (IDD) arm of True Corp, is gearing up to offer full commercial service for customers of True fixed-line, mobile and personal communication telephones (PCT).
The company expects to grab at least a 10% share next year of all IDD traffic, worth some 10 billion baht last year.
General manager Vasu Khuvasi said True International Communication expected to attract at least 80% of its existing one million customers who make overseas calls.
True has around two million fixed-line customers, True Move 12 million subscribers and PCT 300,000 users.
''We expect to earn one billion baht in IDD revenue next year. It is also expected to become a significant revenue stream in the future,'' he said.
Previously, Mr Vasu said that True earned IDD revenue in form of marketing commissions from CAT Telecom, at around 400 million baht per year.
True International is introducing a promotional IDD tariff rate of six baht a minute for calls made worldwide from 6 pm to 6 am until Oct 6.
To make overseas calls, users can dial the ''006'' prefix followed by the country code and telephone number. True Move customers can either press the prefix 006 or the ''+'' sign to reach the service.
True Move's two larger mobile rivals rivals also offer IDD services: Advanced Info Service with a 005 prefix and DTAC with 004. They compete with CAT Telecom's 001 and 009 prefixes and TOT Plc's 007 and 008 prefixes.
True International received an IDD licence from the National Telecommunications Commission last year. It spent almost 100 million baht on a network covering 230 countries and territories.
The company began a soft launch for True Move subscribers early this year and 30,000 are using the service.
''We are now introducing an official integrated service for the group's umbrella customers under our convergence lifestyle campaign,'' said Mr Vasu.
He acknowledged that competition in the local IDD market would intensify next year, thanks to more new players. He also said that differentiation was difficult because operators all used similar technology, but the premium would be on voice clarity, easy connections and no dropped calls.
Mr Vasu admitted that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service was challenging the IDD market because it was cheaper. VoIP users pay only one baht to 1.50 baht a minute for calls to countries in Asia, Europe and United States.
However, True is focusing on corporate customers and businessmen who have concerns about voice clarity quality.
The company is planning to extend its international network's reach, after having direct links with carriers and operators in Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. It also plans to build a presence in Singapore or Europe soon after installing in Hong Kong.
Mr Vasu also said that IDD operators were in talks about setting up interconnection charges among each other in order to allow customers to make international calls through any telephone system.
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