As the global standard for measuring real-world mobile-network experience, UK-based OpenSignal independently analyses and reports on consumers’ experience at the largest scale and frequency in the wireless industry: by operator and by country, regionally and worldwide.

The mobile analytics insights are used across the industry by operators, telecoms regulators and analysts.

Two billion individual measurements are made every day from tens of millions of smartphones worldwide at all hours of the day.

For this particular report, more than 1.1 billion data-points were collected from 117,309 users during the period January 1 to March 31 in Thailand.

Finding 4G signals in Thailand is hardly a problem, but fast 4G connections still remain elusive, the analysis found.

In OpenSignal’s latest test results, all three major operators averaged LTE (long-term evolution) speeds below the global mobile average of 16.9Mbps from its recent “State of LTE” report.

But the good news is that speeds are improving.

Results show both AIS and TrueMove increased their 4G speed slightly over the last six months, though TrueMove took OpenSignal’s 4G speed award with an average LTE download of 11.6Mbps.

In addition, tested overall speeds improved for all three operators as 4G availability increased.

The government has assured the public that Jack Ma, owner ecommerce giant Alibaba, will bring large benefits to the country after pledging to invest Bt11 billion in the Eastern Economic Corridor.

Ma has signed several memoranda of understanding (MoU) with government agencies, pledging both close collaboration and cash investments with several government agencies.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chanocha, trying to soothe public fears about an e-commerce monopoly said he believed that Alibaba investments would benefit the country, particularly Thai farmers. There is some evidence to apparently support Prayut’s claim – sales of over 1000,000 durian fruit on the Alibaba website after Ma met Prayut on April 19.

Critics, however, are still cautious about how large the expected benefits could be from Alibaba’s investment pledges.

“The government should not sign MoUs with a single business, because it raises a question of favouritism – why Alibala, why not Tencent or Amazon?” said Teerana Bhongmakapat, a former dean of Chulalongkorn University’s Economics Faculty.

“Ma has obviously benefited from the deal at least regarding the public relations as he could show other business leaders that he could access inner circles of the Thai government,” said Teerana.

Other investors might think that Ma has a personal connection with members of Thailand’s Cabinet, he argued.

The one-on-one meeting and the MoU signing have also demonstrated that the Thai government desperately needs Ma, Teerana further said.

Teerana also argued that Alibaba is part of a Chinese strategy to expand its overseas investment and trade in Asean countries. Alibaba also wants to sell more Chinese goods to Thai consumers, while few Thai products will be qualified to take advantage of Alibaba platform, warned Teerana.

Thai bankers are also aware that Alibaba, other e-commerce platforms and financial technology companies (fintech) will eat up their traditional banking businesses. E-commerce platforms and fintechs also provide some financial services, such as online payment and personal and SME loans.

This fear has led Thai banks to recently decide to waive fees for online transactions in order to lure clients to their platforms. Banks also making partnership with tech firms are racing to provide online services, such as management of inventory, payroll, and accounting to SMEs in order to retain their royalty.

Thanyalak Vacharachaisurapol, deputy managing director of Kasikorn Research Centre Co, said that Alibaba would harvest and make use of “big data” related to trade and financial transactions for its future services. It may provide loans and cash management for SMEs which use its e-commerce platform, she said.

Thailand will feel the impact, but it would also affect other Asean markets as well, given the many business units under Alibaba including Ant Financial and Ascend Money, she said.

Kasikorn Bank has worked with Ant Financial, which operates Alipay, one of the largest Chinese online payment systems and able to provide online settlement for Chinese tourists who visit Thailand and spend money here.

But central bank governor Veerathai Santiprabhob, apparently does not much worry about the negative impact of Alibaba investment.

“It is not a black or white matter,” he said. “Thai banks have to adapt and we can see they are as they waive online transaction fees.”

If Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial wanted to provide loans in Thailand, it would have to set up an office here and it would be subject to Thai laws, he assured.

In response to the criticism of government favouritism toward Alibaba, Kobsak Pootrakool, minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that government welcomes all business leaders, not exclusively Ma, if they have good proposals.

He said that the Thai government’s forming a partnership with Ma is the result of two-year negotiation since Ma first approached the Thai government.

Kobsak was confident that farmers will largely benefit from Alibaba’s e-commerce platform since it eradicates middlemen. For example, when selling an agricultural product worth Bt100, a typical Thai farmer would get only Bt2 after the product had gone through many middlemen, Kobsak claimed.

The middlemen might be adversely affected by investment Alibaba in Thailand, but they would be able to adapt to new competition, he claimed.

If Alibaba Group also provides loans to SMEs in Thailand in the future, it would benefit those groups. Many are not now able to seek loans from local banks, he said.

The Revenue Department has worried about the level paying field as Alibaba and other giant e-commerce operators from outside the country could avoid paying the 7-per cent value added tax (VAT), while local ecommerce operators would have to pay. The department is drafting a law to collect VAT from global e-commerce operators.

Teerana said that it may be too early to tell who will benefit the most from the deal, as Ma has not fully implemented what he pledged.

“Wait and see – it may be just a PR event for Ma,” he said.

China launches new company producing

China has launched a new company focusing on the scale-production of satellites in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei province.

The newly established CASIC Space Engineering Development Co is a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).

The company has a complete research and development capacity for the design of satellites, with core technologies in the structure and thermal control of satellites, according to Lyu Dongming, president of the company.

Mini satellites and other commercial space programs are the main focus of the company.

It will join hands with the local space industry resources to create the capacity for the annual production of more than one hundred satellites. – China Daily

Xiaomi expected to file for IPO

China’s tech company Xiaomi may file its application for an initial public offering to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong next week, reported securities news portal cs.com.cn on Thursday.

This might be the first IPO when IPO applications under dual-class shares structures would be accepted starting April 30. Market insiders said that Xiaomi was confident of a valuation of over $100 billion (Bt3.14 trillion) while rumoured valuations varied between about $70 billion and $200 billion.

Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd, told the Wall Street Journal on April 24 that he was confident that the city will land some of the biggest listings in the future, including Saudi Arabian Oil Co and tech giant Xiaomi .

Key sponsors for Xiaomi’s Hong Kong IPO are CITIC Securities, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, according to Tencent’s news portal qq.com.

Xiaomi did not comment on the possible IPO when contacted by chinadaily.com.cn on Thursday.

Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, said on Tuesday that the company would cap its after-tax revenue for hardware products within 5 per cent and would return revenue above that level to customers in a “reasonable way”. – China Daily

RS Plc has been eyeing new business opportunities that reflect global trends as part of its continued diversification to ensure sustainable growth, said RS CEO Surachai Chetchotisak.

He added that RS does not rely too heavily on any one of any of its several business groups, and could therefore continue to sustain its growth regardless of changes that may come in the future.

While he declined to specify future new business groups for RS, he said there are interesting business opportunities in the booming tourism sector and areas related to the ageing society. However, he said that RS will not rush to blindly jump in.

Surachai also pointed to another interesting global trend, the health and beauty sector, which RS entered three years ago. That area, or what Surachai calls the “Multiple Platform Commerce” (MPC) business has already become one of the top revenue earners for RS.

Besides health and beauty products, the MPC covers home appliances and personal lifestyle products. RS will keep adding new product lines into the platform.

Starting from the record music business more than 30 years ago, RS now boasts four main business groups – music, events, media and the MPC.

Surachai said the MPC business has ample growth room and is expected to account for over 60 per cent of total RS revenues this year and around 70 per cent in the future. The company’s media business will also continue to grow, he added.

RS recently disclosed its targeted total revenue is Bt5.8 billion this year, a jump of 65 per cent from last year. It has projected revenue from MPC products would total more than Bt3.5 billion for the year, a sharp growth of 150 per cent year on year.

Surachai added that he is not worried about competitors in the MPC domain, given RS has kept adjusting itself to remain ready at all times for the competition. He cited the company’s successful adaptation to survive disruption from digital technology that bought fundamental changes to the global traditional music industry 10 years ago.

“Over the past three years the world has even moved faster,” Surachai said. “This means it’s not enough for your organisation to adjust – it also needs to make an internal change.”

He added: “As RS has kept adjustฌing all the time, whenever the time comes that we need to make any change, it’s not hard for us anymore to make a successful change – and this capability enables us to enter any new frontiers without limitation.”

Surachai said that he would not dissolve the music business, despite its smaller revenue contribution when compared to the MPC business. “I’ll shut down any business only when it turns unprofitable,” he said.

Not want to leave

Surachai said that RS has also planned to transform its organisation into “the place where you need high level of competence to get a job but once you get in, you’ll not want to leave. This picture will get clearer next year”, he said.

Regarding the terrestrial digital TV broadcasting business, he said that the average viewers’ rating for the company’s Channel 8 has never been below the top five level, while the rating of the channel’s prime time is in the top three.

He said that when RS clinched a digital TV broadcasting licence in the 2013 auction, it fulfilled his dream that one day he would own a mainฌstream media outlet. The company has utilised the channel to add value to its existing businesses and to create new business opportunities.

When asked how, as a CEO, he copes with the current fast-changing business environment, Surachai said that one needs to try to “think freely”. He said that most of the time when the world changes, people refuse to change along with it but remain struck in the same old-fashioned ways of thinking. But at the same time, when the new trends come, one should not just blindly follow them but rather contemplate them before making any moves, he said.

Surachai added that every disruption brings not only threats, but also good new opportunities that depend on whether one can find them.