The company, a subsidiary of Bangkok Glass Plc, will look for investment opportunities to expand its manufacturing portfolio of wall and ceiling products. It could be green-field investments, joint ventures or acquisitions.

“We [BGF] will look at any possible opportunity to expand our manufacturing portfolio for wall and ceiling products in the next three to five years,” said Supasin Leelarit, executive vice president for Group Construction Materials of Bangkok Glass Plc, and managing director of BGF.

He said the company expected its annual sales revenue to reach at least Bt6 billion before deciding to list on the stock market, and that could take three to five years.

The company recorded Bt1.5 billion in total sales last year.

“We have set our business ambition to become a leading provider of total wall and ceiling solutions,” said Supasin, adding that all wall and ceiling-relevant products will be under the “BGF” umbrella brand.

He said the structure was quite similar to SCG, which is a leading provider of building structure and construction materials. However, there are no major players for providing wall and ceiling solutions in Thailand at the moment.

Supasin said that BGF had started manufacturing glass products at its factory in the Si Maha Phot district of Prachin Buri province in October 2017 with an investment of  about Bt5 billion. The setting up of the manufacturing facility, with an annual capacity at about 219,000 tonnes, including float and process glass products, is under a joint venture with Glas Trosch Holding AG, a giant glass manufacturer from Switzerland.

BGF currently has a 19 per cent market share in Thailand’s Bt12-billion basic glass market, which has seen an average growth of between 5 per cent and 6 per cent annually.

The company at the beginning of this year acquired Usam Inter Group and its aluminium extrusion facility in Nakhon Pathom province for Bt1 billion. The factory has the capacity to produce 1,200 tonnes of aluminium extrusion a month or at about 14,400 tonnes a year. The raw material for aluminium extrusion, called aluminium billets, are imported from many countries, including Dubai, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and China, and represents between 60 to 70 per cent of total manufacturing cost.

Supasin said that BGF currently exports 40 per cent of its glass products to many countries in the Asia Pacific, including South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam). Meanwhile, 100 per cent of aluminium extrusion products are distributed within Thailand.

“We are looking to export our aluminium extrusion products to potential markets, especially in CLMV. It includes setting up of facilities for the extrusion process for aluminium alloys in potential countries,” he said.

BGF expected its total sales to reach about Bt4 billion this year, of which half will be from basic glass products and the half from aluminium extrusions.

Chinese firm Prinx Chengshan Tyre (Thailand) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Chengshan Group, has set aside an investment budget of Bt10.1 billion for its first production line in the region.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 4 million car radial tyres (PCR) and 800,000 truck and bus radial tyres (TBR).

The new facility on 280 rai (44.8 hectares) at WHA ESIE3 in Chon Buri province is expected to start operations by mid-2020.

The plant will require an initial workforce of 1,200 people, and will exceed 2,000 once the annual production capacity increases to 10 million PCR and 2 million TBR tyres.

“Setting up our first overseas production facility at WHA ESIE 3 in Thailand is truly a significant advancement of our group’s expansion,” said Che Hongzhi, chairman of the board of Chengshan Group.

He added that after two years of scrutiny and evaluation, Thailand had emerged as the obvious choice for the plant due to its reputation as a Southeast Asian economic hub, and its position as the world’s leading supplier of natural rubber.

The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the WHA ESIE 3 offer outstanding location advantages, qualified human resources, high-standard service facilities, convenient logistics and infrastructure, Che said.

“These are important factors for our investment that will enhance the competitiveness of our products. We look forward to a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with WHA Industrial Development,” he said.

A China-based tyre company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since October 2018, Prinx Chengshan selected Thailand’s EEC and WHA ESIE 3 for its first tyre plant in the region. The company yesterday signed a contract to purchase 280 rai of land from WHA Industrial Development Plc, an industrial estate firm under the WHA Group, on WHA ESIE 3 in Chon Buri province.

“We are proud to have Prinx Chengshan Tyre (Thailand) as our first customer at WHA ESIE 3, our 10th industrial estate in Thailand,” said Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, chairman and group chief executive officer of WHA Corporation Plc.

“Prinx Chengshan’s investment in Thailand is also a significant step forward for our automotive industry and a clear confirmation of the EEC’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

We are expecting more investors to join us in the near future, with an estimated Bt140 billion in investments at WHA ESIE 3 over the next five years.”

WHA Group’s newest industrial estate, WHA ESIE 3, comprises a total of 2,198 rai (352 hectares) of developed land strategically situated in the Nong Yai district of Chon Buri.

DTAC has already launched 5G testbeds infrastructure at both Chulalongkorn University, in downtown Bangkok, and Kasetsart University’s Sriracha Campus in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

The testing equipment will also be provided by Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia.

DTAC chief executive officer Alexandra Reich said yesterday that to learn more about how 5G can benefit Thai society, one needs to first identify relevant applications and use cases. This requires a strong collaboration between government, industry and consumers.

TOT and CAT each bring their own strengths to the partnership, covering a broad range of expertise on network systems, spectrum and regulatory aspects, Reich said.

DTAC’s 5G trial will focus on its existing smart-farmer project.

TOT’s 5G trial will focus on its existing “smart pole” project, a piece of infrastructure ideally suited for urban environments. It allows fast, reliable connections to Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The smart poles are being tested at Chulalongkorn University before being rolled out in additional public areas.

In the future, this type of infrastructure can be shared with telecom providers, making the 5G roll-out faster and more affordable.

CAT will bring its existing project, “PM2.5 Sensor for All”, to join the 5G testing under this partnership.

The system will employ connected sensors in partnership with DTAC to monitor air quality in the capital.

DTAC has already requested a permit from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to conduct 5G trials and 4G-5G compatibility trials. In addition to lab testing, the licence covers live testing in areas such as Chulalongkorn University and Siam Square.

The trial licence from the NBTC covers 26GHz and 28GHz, 3.5GHz, 2600MHz, 2300MHz and 1800MHz.

Reich also urged the related state authorities to develop a comprehensive road map for new spectrum allocation.

“Building a broad range of 5G use cases requires an equally wide range of spectrum, from to low- to mid- and high-band. Before considering any further auctions, operators need to have a comprehensive spectrum road map and the conditions under which it will be made available. Well-managed auctions must ensure not only fairness but also a reasonable valuation of the spectrum.”

The move is in line with the company’s vision “to be an international standard postal service provider and an end-to-end e-commerce logistics service that is always first in customers’ minds”.

Parisa said the company has restructured itself to improve its capability in providing all necessary activities in the ecosystem to help local operators in the e-commerce market – both online market place operators and SMEs. She said Thailand Post has increased its service hours in many branches from 8am to 8pm and is open even up to midnight at some branches.

At major airports, the company provides post and express delivery service 24 hours a day, all days of the week. The move is to cater its services to fit in with the lifestyle of people doing online trading activities.

“In a strategic move to support e-commerce business activities in Thailand, we [Thailand Post] are providing integrated services in the ecosystem, comprising logistics and transportation, packaging, payment and other financial services, trading and market place,” said Parisa. She added that Thailand Post Mart has been created as an online market place for the development of community goods. A new subsidiary has been set up to provide logistics service for business-to-business activities.

Parisa said that Thailand Post has been moving into new S-curve businesses, including ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC), financially relevant services and applying full automation at its post offices, such as in the sorting of postal products.

She said Thailand Post achieved about Bt30 billion in total revenue last year, of which 47 per cent, or Bt14 billion, were from logistics and delivery services.

“We have posted annual growth rate of between 14 and 15 per cent. It is much less than the growth of the total e-commerce market in Thailand, which is seeing average growth of about 30 per cent a year,” said Parisa.

“We need to improve our efficiency to cash in on the growth opportunity in the online market,” she added.

Parisa said that seminar and workshop activities are being held by Thailand Post to educate local e-commerce entrepreneurs so that they can treat Thailand Post as their partner in learning and growing their online business together.

Thailand Post has more than 8,000 drop points for its postal products, including a strong network of 3,000 own post office branches and 2,000 licensed and franchised postal outlets.

“We have joined with major petrol stations such as PTT, Bangchak and PT, as well as hypermarkets, including Tesco Lotus and Big C, for the expansion of Thailand Post’s drop point network,” she said.