Mobile firms turn attention to prepaid to retain users

Mobile firms turn attention to prepaid to retain users

TECH
Mobile firms turn attention to prepaid to retain users
Mobile firms focuses on prepaid customers. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Mobile operators are stepping up efforts to provide incentives for prepaid users to retain customers amid fierce competition in the industry.

Prepaid users account for 80% of the country's mobile subscribers.

"DTAC is spending 88 million baht on Thailand's first customer relationship management campaign targeted at prepaid users," said How Lih Ren, newly appointed chief of marketing at Total Access Communication.

Prepaid customers will be entitled to lucky draws worth 20 million baht and other benefits when topping up, said Mr How, who moved from Telenor in Malaysia to DTAC in April. The campaign runs until January.

The new campaign, called "Jaidee Jaek Suk" (Kindness Brings Happiness), is designed to attract prepaid users to extend service use, as they normally switch to other operators within 3-6 months of SIM card registration.

Although the company's revenue from postpaid customers is higher than for prepaid users, most customers are on the prepaid platform, making up 14.3 million out of 20.6 million customers as of the second quarter, Mr How said.

How Lih Ren, newly appointed chief marketing officer, Total Access Communication Plc, said, "dtac will never stop developing and creating services to meet customers' needs by the in-depth study of customers' problems and demands."

The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) on the prepaid platform stands at 135 baht, as opposed to 532 baht from 6.3 million postpaid customers.

There are three groups of DTAC prepaid users: Thais, immigrant workers and tourist SIMs.

In the second quarter, DTAC lost 94,000 subscribers, the lowest rate since the first quarter of 2016.

Some 440,000 of DTAC's 14.3 million prepaid subscribers use a DTAC mobile app for online self-service.

The company has set a goal of having 1 million prepaid customers using the DTAC mobile app within six months.

Mr How voiced confidence that the local mobile sector would continue to grow in line with GDP.

Largest mobile operator Advanced Info Service is offering One-Two-Call prepaid users its house-brand Gen 1 phone for 1,590 baht with an internet SIM and 120GB free data usage as part of a package worth 1,400 baht.

Prepaid customers account for 79% of the company's customers.

The number of AIS customers fell from 41.49 million to 41.46 million in the first quarter. The number of prepaid customers dropped by 276,000 SIM cards, though many migrated to the postpaid platform.

Postpaid subscribers grew by 2.9% to 8.79 million in the quarter.

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