HOME REVIEW
The cabinet reduced the Thaksin-era telecoms excise tax from 10 percent (mobile phones) and 2 percent (fixed-line phones) to zero; the zero-sum plan devised by Information and Communication Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom reverts to the previous state of things - with no bottom-line effect on operators or consumers - but leaves it open for another rise in the tax; the main effect is to slow all that liberalisation that was going on, bring into question the privatisation of your TOT and your CAT Telecom, and indicate that the state enterprises are regulators again.
In a six-round penalty shootout, TrueVisions scored a decisive victory over ESPN Star to broadcast all Premier League football games for the next three years, starting in August; content officer Attaphon Na Bangxang shelled out something just barely south of 500 million baht; now he sees convergence - football on pay-TV and regular TV and phones and Internet, not to mention another surge in UBC pay-TV subscriptions, and so much English football you'll look back at 2006 as the last year of that dreadful soccer drought.
Thai Airways' budget airline Nok Air signed a contract to the unique Mobiqa service, which sends virtual tickets to yuppiephones in the form of a bar code; the deal made Nok Air the first regional airline to offer tickets by phone. In the greatest energy saving plan since the remote control, Visa announced it will introduce credit cards in Thailand this year that do not require the tough, tiring, physical task of swiping the card through a credit card machine; the new cards only need be held up in front of the machine, a move that will save countless muscle tears and pretty much end the main cause of fatigue in the country.
The senior vice president at Indian software outsourcing giant Satyam Computer Services said Thailand has a bright IT future; Virender Aggarwal, who also is an understatement specialist, added politely that the country "has to take more steps" if it hopes to be a big wheel even in Southeast Asia; since the Thai technology industry is still at a nascent stage, he explained, it needs a more consistent development and marketing policy.
Microsoft (Thailand) launched Windows Vista and some other products for Thailand with two weeks of parties in the Big Mango; for its show-stopper, Microsoft went to Pantip Plaza, previously known as The Fount of All Piracy, but now the home of respected Microsoft partner IT City. Bangkok Bank, Channel 7's daddy Bangkok Broadcasting & TV, and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced they would be using Windows Vista from Day One - the SEC because of that nifty shared calendar.
Microsoft bragged that it had checked 512 million people's computers under the "Windows Genuine Advantage" programme, and only accused a mere 2.6 million legitimate Windows owners of being pirates, and what's a couple of million false piracy charges, eh? Bombs don't intimidate Microsoft either, said the marketing director for Thailand Derek Brown; the firm has doubled its Bangkok office space, boosted staff by 30 percent, and issued orders for "the vast majority of consumers in Thailand" to get rid of that icky old Windows XP thingmy and upgrade to Vista.
Microsoft announced it will support your legal Windows XP Home edition for an extra five years, to 2014, just like XP Pro in the workplace - if you give them gifts in advance.
When the iTV pooyai from Shingapore offered a payment schedule for the overdue concession payments, the Prime Minister's Office had five words for them: "Hahahahaha." The Singapore Foreign Ministry had just five words on charges it was bugging phone calls in or from Thailand: "Hahahahaha." US Ambassador Ralph L Boyce held a two-hour online chat session with Americans and Thais on bilateral relations; he said the US has "no interest" in direct involvement in the South, and that while Cobra Gold planning was under way in Bangkok, this year's operation is still up in the air.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont commandeered an hour of air time on Channel 11 on Saturday morning to speak to the nation, and took several screened questions from callers. Vietnam PM Nguyen Tan Dung held a two-hour online chat with netizens and took unscreened questions from everyone.
The cabinet approved spending 972 million baht on a five-province closed-circuit TV network in the South; the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre, which already has a manpower shortage, was ordered to begin installation immediately and complete the monitoring network by September. Some Bangkok smart projects are pretty dumb, said Governor Apirak Kosayodhin; he assigned officials to weed the dumb from the smart traffic signs, smart taxi stands, smart bus stops and smart car parks.
With khon dancing costumes beginning to take on a somewhat modern, rag-tag, careless look, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn suggested the use computer graphics to get traditional patterns of costumes with detail and delicacy; Her Majesty the Queen donated 300,000 baht to the project.
GMM Grammy, the country's largest music firm, expects 2007 revenues to top analyst forecasts of 6.6 billion baht; Disclaimer: No one from GMM Grammy tampered with this paragraph during or after creation.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Next
