DTAC looks to refresh brand

DTAC looks to refresh brand
Bangkok Post (12 October 2007)

Second-ranked mobile operator DTAC is preparing for a major revamp of its business strategy to strengthen core voice-based services. The Norwegian company plans to launch a ''brand refreshment and service refeeling'' campaign on Oct 24, as part of its strategy to differentiate itself from major rivals AIS and True Move. ''The campaign will be a whole new thing for the local mobile industry,'' said chief commercial officer Thana Thienachariya. AIS and True Move have already implemented strategies to expand into data communications including wireline and wireless broadband internet, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and IP television. ''Our policy is to focus on the core voice-based services,'' he said. Mr Thana admitted that it would be too late for DTAC to catch up with its rivals in terms of convergence strategy since it had done little network development in this regard. The company plans to diversify into new wireless-based services over the next two to three years as he believed that emerging international direct dialling (IDD) or third-generation (3G) services would take several years to gain popularity in the Thai market. Mr Thana also said that competition in the local mobile market would shift away from subscriber acquisition to retention in 2008 as the market is close to saturation. The local mobile-phone market has witnessed bullish development in the past three to four years, with the growth rate of net new subscribers ranging from 20-30%. The country's penetration rate of mobile phones is now around 72% of the population with 47 million users. AIS currently has 23 million customers, followed by DTAC with 14.5 million and True Move 9.1 million users.
The industry expected up to 11 million new customers in 2007. AIS alone expected five million new customers, DTAC four million and True Move two million. However, Mr Thana said the growth rate would be slower next year and would drop to single-digit growth in 2009. Penetration would be well above 80% next year, with an additional 10 million subscribers. Mr Thana acknowledged that the mobile industry had registered flat revenue growth for the past two years. But he said DTAC recorded positive growth last year, and expected to meet its revenue target growth of 8-15% this year. Revenue from the three major mobile operators is expected to reach 200 billion baht this year, 50% of which would come from AIS. However, AIS's profits account for up to 90% of the industry's total earnings given its size. Mr Thana also said that operators with strong customer retention and innovative products and services would win customers next year. As part of its retention strategy, DTAC yesterday introduced 50,000 ''twin number'' SIM cards for 100,000 numbers. Customers who buy the prepaid twin SIMs are allowed call each other free around the clock. The company will charge 1.50 baht a minute for calls made to all networks.