The move is aimed at further strengthening the company’s international connectivity capacity and its overall telecom services offering.

The other countries and territories to be connected to the submarine cable are Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and South Korea.

The consortium, in which True is one of nine members, last month signed an agreement with NEC Corporation to build the submarine cable. For True’s commitment, the company will spend about Bt3.6 billion on the network investment, said Supoj Mahapan, True’s managing director of international carrier and alliance management.

The construction of this intra-Asian network will begin this year and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2020. The network lifespan is at least 25 years.

The SJC2 members are China Mobile International, Chunghwa Telecom, Chuan Wei, Facebook, KDDI, Singtel, SK Broadband, True Group, and VNPT.

The 10,500-kilometre cable has links to 11 cable landing stations in the region. The cable will feature up to eight pairs of high-capacity optical fibre with initial design capacity of 144 terabits per second, roughly the equivalent of simultaneously streaming 5.76 million ultra-high definition videos per second.

The True investment will enable it to utilise 9 terabits per second capacity on this planned network out of the network’s total capacity of 144 terabits per second.

The higher capacity will allow True group to support high bandwidth intensive requirements such as video streaming, higher definition video, 5G, virtual reality applications, artificial intelligence, cloud services, analytics, robotics and the Internet of Things.

“The SJC2 submarine cable project is another significant step of True Group in building key infrastructure for True Group and Thailand,” Vichaow Rakphongphairoj, True group co-president, said yesterday. “It is our ongoing commitment to support the government’s policy in relation to the nation’s economic development.”

He said the submarine cable is one of several projects that will enhance Thailand’s international connectivity and support the government’s digital economy policy. The cable is deploying state-of-the-art technology and its high capacity will truly enhance True’s position as market leader in mobile and fixed broadband internet, Vichaow said.

Supoj added that the SJC2 network will add network diversity to Thailand. Currently, more than half of Thailand’s Internet traffic is routed via land cables in Malaysia and Singapore.

The company’s deputy chief executive officer Nelson Leung said that VGI planned to consistently expand its out-of-home media business in Malaysia after receiving a 10-year management rights of the advertising space on 31 stations and 58 trains along the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) Line in Malaysia.

VGI Global Media (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd or VGM, a subsidiary established in Malaysia, has acquired a 25 per cent in Pancak Berlian Sdn Bhd, the out-of-home media operator with a variety of advertising media such as mass transit, office buildings, outdoor advertising, airports, and department stores.

The key project partners in this research and development incubating programme are

Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, King Mongkut Institute of Technology Lad Krabang, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thammasat University, and Chiang Mai University, The Knowledge Exchange and Microsoft Thailand, Orapong Thien-Ngern, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Ventures Co Ltd said.

The project encourages lecturers, students, researchers and those interested in advanced technology to join forces as a startup enterprise and initiate new ideas in developing deep technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Clouds and Security, Big Data / Internet of Things, Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR), and Quantum Computing, into innovations. These advanced technologies will enhance the development of key industries, starting with retail, tourism / travel and financial services. These ideas can be turned into actual products and services in the market, he said.

Set to officially launch in the opening quarter of next year with its first hotel in Bangkok’s renowned Chatuchak Market, ASAI Hotels embraces a sustainable, community-focused concept, with each property designed to reflect the culture and heritage of its location through collaborations with local artisans.

In line with the four core pillars of the brand – Thoughtful Essentials, Common Areas, Locally Inspired and Connected Community – each hotel will feature compact rooms of around 15 square metres, whose contemporary design will emphasise key features like superior-quality beds and high-pressure rain showers.

A large mixed-use space, meanwhile, will include a cosy and efficient work space, a leisure area, and a restaurant concept curated by local chefs who champion sustainability, the company said on Tuesday.

Alongside ASAI Chatuchak, five more properties are already confirmed in the pipeline.

This includes three ASAI Hotels in Cebu, in the Philippines – in Lapu-Lapu, Oslob and the city centre; one hotel in Yangon, in the historic Yankin township of the former Myanmar capital; and a second hotel in Bangkok, in the stylish Sathon district.

All are expected to open next year.

ASAI Hotels’ management team hopes to secure over 10 properties in the pipeline by the end of the year across Southeast Asia and Japan.

This includes owned and joint-venture properties, as well as properties under hotel-management agreements.

Australia, Europe and Central America are also on the radar for potential projects.

The three new locations represent a continuation of the programme following the launch of the first two locations at Crystal Design Centre and Terminal 21, and a joint effort to carry forward the commitment to drive the development and adoption of electric mobility in Thailand.

Christian Wiedmann, president of BMW Group Thailand, said on Tuesday: “BMW Group Thailand and ChargeNow partners are committed to drive Thailand towards a full-fledged electric society. We now plan to work closely with ChargeNow and our authorised BMW dealers to install 100 charging stations across the country to facilitate and simplify the charging process and eventually pave the way to a sustainable low-carbon environment.

“BMW Group Thailand, as a member of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand, is also actively working with the association and the Strategic Alliance Network within the EVAT Charging Consortium to jointly develop Thailand charging stations’ network for the ultimate benefit of PHEV [plug-in hybrids] and BEV [battery electric vehicles] users in using the charging service at all charging stations available in every network that carries similar standards and operates in a standardised service system.

“We aim to support an entirely new collaboration model in order to help PHEV and BEV users in using card, QR code or other equipment to charge their vehicles at any network for the users’ own benefits,” the group president said.

“The charging process is now even more convenient with the Greenlots app for smartphones. After downloading the app via App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android, customers can then register using a ChargeNow card number provided upon the purchase of BMW iPerformance vehicles,” he added.

“The Greenlots app provides essential information – including the location and status of each charging station, status notification during charging sessions, and access to ChargeNow account settings such as adding or removing a vehicle from the account.”

Apart from the installation of charging stations for up to six electric and plugin-hybrid vehicles at CentralWorld, ChargeNow stations are also planned to be installed at 12 more locations across Central Group properties – including CentralPlaza, CentralFestival and Robinson malls.

Aomsin Nutchaya Phoungjeen and Frong Thanakorn Yaowarat will be part of the opening-match proceedings at the “2018 FIFA World Cup Russia” in June, walking onto the pitch hand-in-hand with their footballing idols, together with other children from around the world.

In its ongoing effort to improve client services, Mazars Thailand set out to find a comprehensive HR business that could serve clients of all sectors and sizes in one place, and the perfect partner to develop such solutions was found in HReasily.

The partnership allows Mazars Thailand – whose parent company, Mazars, is based in France – to introduce cloud-based HR-compliance and payroll solutions on a single platform to both Thai and regional markets.

The Thai company described the new relationship with HReasily as “a synergistic one with multiple benefits”, including:

– Efficiency: The ability to provide an HR management system that offers payroll services as well as managing the employee database, new hires, leavers, leave, timesheets, expense claims and document storage.

– Multi-country coverage: It enables Mazars to provide regional payroll services on a single platform, covering Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia.

– Ease of use: Payroll reports, statutory returns, pay slips and leave information will be available to the client and its employees online or via a mobile application.

– Seamless integration: HReasily is seamlessly integrated with Xero accounting software; output is recorded as an accounting entry each month and posted directly into Xero.

With the recent government initiative to bolster small and medium-sized enterprises in 10 provinces via a Bt3.81-billion pilot project, there is a strong demand for human-resources solutions that are flexible enough to accommodate growth and expansion, both within Thailand and regionally, Mazars Thailand said.

This new collaboration offers an agile technology platform that will enable SMEs to adapt as their workforce grows, the company added.

The goals of the MOU – titled “Digital Human Development in Digital Business and Services (Cooperative Education)” – include creating innovation, encouraging creativity, and supporting the readiness of students to fulfill industry demand in accordance with national “Trade and Service 4.0” initiatives.

The UTCC is the only Thai university that requires first-year students to complete a “Digital Innovation Thinking and Coding” course.

Assoc Professor Sauwanee Thairungroj, president of the university and teaching professor, said the UTCC is the leading institute in the business, trading and service industries.

The main mission is to function as a practice-university in providing the knowledge and skills necessary to students in every faculty, she said.

Graduating students possess entrepreneurial skills and can apply digital technology-related innovation to business. UTCC sees this skill base, which it refers to as IDE (innovation-driven entrepreneurship), as a potential driving factor in developing the national economy, she added.

TCC’s Voradis said: “The competencies and capabilities of today’s graduates do not fulfill the current aggressive demands of our growing market. There is a lack of ‘industry linkage’ between industry and educational systems. This is a very critical time for students to equip and leverage themselves with industry needs.

“With readiness under our specialised domains within our ecosystems of data centres, connectivity and computing resources, TCC Technology Group is privileged to be a part of this exciting joint-programme.”