Shin Corp's int'l arm eager to expand
Published on April 17, 2008
Thaicom, formerly Shin Satellite, will spend about US$90 million (Bt2.8 billion) this year on further developing its 3G broadband cellular service in Laos and Cambodia.
Executive chairman Dumrong Kasemseth said yesterday that $60 million would go to Cambodia Shinawatra and $30 million to Lao Telecom. Both are under Shenington Investments, Thaicom's telecom holding company.
Cambodia Shinawatra already offers 3G, while Lao Telecom will kick off its third-generation service this year. They have a combined 1.5 million subscribers for the existing 2G cellular service.
Shenington is a 51:49 joint venture of Thaicom and Asia Mobile Holdings.
Dumrong said Thaicom might expand its mobile-phone service to more countries after Laos and Cambodia but declined to elaborate. Besides Shenington, Thaicom's three other core businesses are conventional satellite broadcasting via Thaicoms 1, 2 and 5, wireless Internet broadband service via its iPSTAR satellite, and wired Internet service via CS Loxinfo.
Last year Shenington generated revenue of about $150 million. The three broadcasting satellites contributed $100 million, iPSTAR $51 million and CS Loxinfo $50 million, Dumrong said.
Revenue growth this year will be 30 per cent for Shenington, 100 per cent for iPSTAR, 10 per cent for the Thaicom satellites and 10 per cent for CS Loxinfo, he said.
ShinSat shareholders approved the name change to Thaicom last week. The move reflects its attempt to stay clear from politics.
It has applied to the Stock Exchange of Thailand to switch its stock symbol from SATTEL to THCOM.
Shin Corp, founded by the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, owns 41.27 per cent of Thaicom.
Thaicom is considering launching Thaicom 6 to replace Thaicom 1, which reaches the end of its life expectancy in the middle of next year, but might need an investment partner if it decides to go ahead with the project, Dumrong said.
Thaicom's consolidated revenue rocketed up 42.6 per cent to Bt12.8 billion last year, mainly on the extraordinary gain of Bt5.13 billion from its sale of 49 per cent of Shenington to Asia Mobile Holdings in July.
It posted a net profit of Bt3.04 billion versus a loss of Bt46 million in 2006. It also booked a foreign-exchange gain of Bt1.05 billion from the baht's appreciation.
Recently Thaicom projected iPSTAR terminal sales of 100,000 units this year on a conservative basis, of which 30,000 were expected last quarter. Last year it sold 38,011 iPSTAR terminals, bringing the cumulative total to 104,067.
This year it will deliver 11,000 iPSTAR terminals to TOT, its distributor for Thailand, after supplying the first lot of 6,000 to the state telecom enterprise last year, in line with their 2007 contract.
Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation
Published on April 17, 2008
Thaicom, formerly Shin Satellite, will spend about US$90 million (Bt2.8 billion) this year on further developing its 3G broadband cellular service in Laos and Cambodia.
Executive chairman Dumrong Kasemseth said yesterday that $60 million would go to Cambodia Shinawatra and $30 million to Lao Telecom. Both are under Shenington Investments, Thaicom's telecom holding company.
Cambodia Shinawatra already offers 3G, while Lao Telecom will kick off its third-generation service this year. They have a combined 1.5 million subscribers for the existing 2G cellular service.
Shenington is a 51:49 joint venture of Thaicom and Asia Mobile Holdings.
Dumrong said Thaicom might expand its mobile-phone service to more countries after Laos and Cambodia but declined to elaborate. Besides Shenington, Thaicom's three other core businesses are conventional satellite broadcasting via Thaicoms 1, 2 and 5, wireless Internet broadband service via its iPSTAR satellite, and wired Internet service via CS Loxinfo.
Last year Shenington generated revenue of about $150 million. The three broadcasting satellites contributed $100 million, iPSTAR $51 million and CS Loxinfo $50 million, Dumrong said.
Revenue growth this year will be 30 per cent for Shenington, 100 per cent for iPSTAR, 10 per cent for the Thaicom satellites and 10 per cent for CS Loxinfo, he said.
ShinSat shareholders approved the name change to Thaicom last week. The move reflects its attempt to stay clear from politics.
It has applied to the Stock Exchange of Thailand to switch its stock symbol from SATTEL to THCOM.
Shin Corp, founded by the family of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, owns 41.27 per cent of Thaicom.
Thaicom is considering launching Thaicom 6 to replace Thaicom 1, which reaches the end of its life expectancy in the middle of next year, but might need an investment partner if it decides to go ahead with the project, Dumrong said.
Thaicom's consolidated revenue rocketed up 42.6 per cent to Bt12.8 billion last year, mainly on the extraordinary gain of Bt5.13 billion from its sale of 49 per cent of Shenington to Asia Mobile Holdings in July.
It posted a net profit of Bt3.04 billion versus a loss of Bt46 million in 2006. It also booked a foreign-exchange gain of Bt1.05 billion from the baht's appreciation.
Recently Thaicom projected iPSTAR terminal sales of 100,000 units this year on a conservative basis, of which 30,000 were expected last quarter. Last year it sold 38,011 iPSTAR terminals, bringing the cumulative total to 104,067.
This year it will deliver 11,000 iPSTAR terminals to TOT, its distributor for Thailand, after supplying the first lot of 6,000 to the state telecom enterprise last year, in line with their 2007 contract.
Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation
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