Bangkok Bank (BBL) continues to enhance its digital banking services in line with the government policy of a cashless society, It recently launched QR Code payments for BTS pass purchases using Bualuang mBanking. Customers who buy via the QR code will receive cash back of Bt5 per trip (up to 10 cash back credits/person/month). The offer is available from today until March 31, 2019. This payment serves the needs of customers who want to make financial transactions conveniently and safely via digital channels.

Absolute Hotels sets up Quality Assurance Team

Absolute Hotel Services, one of the fastest growing hotel management companies in Asia, has established a quality assurance team to ensure operational performance in alignment with company standards, maximise operational performance and initiate service processes and procedures which will exceed customer satisfaction expectations in all aspects.

 To empower the team, Martin Faist has been promoted to vice president, quality assurance. This promotion has deservedly come about for Faist after many years working with the AHS Group in his capacity of group director of food and beverages, during which he was noted for his professionalism through leadership and team consultancy coupled with outstanding creativity.

Besides his passion for food and beverages, he is an enthusiastic, dedicated and positive mentor for all customer-concerned services.

A German native, Faist brings almost three decades of experience in the dining and hospitality sector. He started his career working as a chef at the Michelin starred Alde Gott Neuweier Baden restaurant in his hometown. He then followed his passion for dining along the professional path, working at five-star hotels and restaurants worldwide in USA, Australia and Asia.

Prior to joining AHS, he was director of food and beverages at Plaza Athenee Bangkok, a Royal Meridien Hotel. In 2015, Faist joined the AHS as group director of food and beverages and was promoted to vice president for quality assurance in 2019.

Along with Faist’s promotion, Chutima Kaewta Fortescue has been appointed director of quality assurance and Prateek Dharkar as quality assurance specialist.

Dtac, Telenor join Google for digital solution

DTAC and Telenor Group is working closely with Google to make it easier for DTAC and Telenor’s subscribers to manage their mobile data usage and price plans. Through the new Mobile Data Plan functionality in Android, DTAC and Telenor subscribers can manage their mobile data plans and receive relevant alerts when the user experience may be impacted by for instance low data balance.

More and more time is spent using Internet on mobile devices. As customers reach the limit or expiration of their mobile data plans, connections are turned off, speeds are reduced, and it ultimately results in a poor experience. With Mobile Data Plan directly from Android, customers can manage their mobile plans, receive useful notifications such as when they need to update their data plan, and also see and purchase relevant offers tailored to their mobile usage, all directly from Android, without having to install an app.

Telenor Group companies DTAC in Thailand and Digi in Malaysia are the first telcos in the world to launch the feature.

“This will provide our customers who use Android devices with a better experience in managing their mobile data usage, more personalised offers, and the option to receive alerts enabling easy data purchases in the moment when needed.

It will reduce data anxiety and increase transparency. It’s very exciting that Digi and DTAC are the first to launch this feature in their markets,” said Svein Henning Kirkeng, chief marketing officer, Telenor Group.

Currently in pilot stage, the feature will now gradually be rolled out to DTAC and Digi subscribers in Thailand and Malaysia who have Android OS 4.0 or newer. It will be extended to Telenor Group’s mobile operations in other countries in the future.

Moreover, under its “greener and smarter” strategy, the company seeks new investment opportunities to sustain the Banpu Group’s future business growth.

Somruedee Chaimongkol, CEO of Banpu Public Co Ltd, said, “Vietnam is the 10th country that Banpu has entered to capture great business opportunity.”

As a country in the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam is experiencing a rapid demand growth for electricity, he said. Vietnam’s official power development plan from 2017 expects to see a doubling of power demand to 130 GW by 2030 to feed the country’s rapid economic growth, with coal remaining the main source of power generation. Domestic supply of coal is insufficient to meet the country’s demand and so it is being imported.

“In 2018, Banpu sold 1.3 million tonnes of coal to Vietnam” said Somruedee. “We are ready and capable of providing high quality and customised specifications of coal from our own mines, including in Indonesia and Australia.”

Banpu also has a “strong partnership network to satisfy clients with a sophisticated logistics system,” she added. “In 2019, Banpu is increasing our target to achieve sales of over 2 million tonnes of coal to Vietnam from established trusts and diversified clients.”

Apart from Banpu’s strong historical positioning in coal production and commercial aspects, Banpu in 2018 set up an office in Ho Chi Min City to manage coal sales covering marketing, client services, research, sales contracts and logistic operations. This office also serves wind farm development, as well as evaluating possible further investments in solar farms and other power plants.

“Given the confidence of our stakeholders in every country in which we have business, our strong financial performance and our corporate governance, we are determined to grow sustainable business by looking for further investment opportunities that generate great returns and are in line with our Greener & Smarter strategy.

“We will focus on the development of three 3 core businesses – energy resources (coal and gas, including related operations such as marketing, training, logistics, fuel procurement and transmission), energy generation (coal-fired and renewables power plants) and energy technology (total solar energy solutions, energy storage systems and energy technology systems), in Vietnam and other countries in Asia-Pacific,” she said.

“These businesses are crucial for Banpu’s future growth and our potential to create added value and to maximise long-term returns for our shareholders.”

Customers who buy via QR code will receive cashback of Bt5 per trip, for up to 10 cashback credits per person per month.

The offer is available from today until March 31.

The payment serves the needs of customers who want to make financial transactions conveniently and safely via digital channels, the bank said.

For more information, call 1333 or visit Bangkok Bank’s website.

Passakorn said in an exclusive interview to The Nation that the firm aims to serve 2,000 corporate clients in Yangon by the end of 2019. MIH currently serves less than 1,000 businesses and its monthly revenue is in the low six-digit figure in US dollar terms.

“We only focus on B2B [business to business] operations. Our target clients are businesses in Myanmar willing to substantially improve their performance with the help of technology,” he said.

According to Passakorn, the income from corporate clients mainly drives MIH’s revenue, though small and medium enterprises account for around 30 per cent of its client base. He seemed content with providing high-speed broadband Internet to a large number of Thai companies based in the neighbouring country.

This year, the firm plans to expand its network coverage in Yangon, rather than expanding to other cities. Passakorn expects to cover 80 per cent of Myanmar’s commercial hub by March 2019.

“Expansion beyond Yangon is definitely on our radar. But we do not want to make haste. For the time being, our focus is Yangon where the majority of corporates are based,” said Passakorn.

The firm has fully covered 23 townships in Yangon including the central business district areas. This year, MIH’s expansion plan will prioritise on industrial zones to better serve its corporate clients. From 2020 onwards, the firm aims to expand to other cities including Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw.

“Banks, financial services, wholesalers and some ISPs [Internet service providers] are using our services. We have our own cloud so we can bring high standard cloud services to them. We are also providing value-added services for business customers,” said Passakorn.

The firm was incorporated in 2014 under Myanmar’s existing laws to provide premier broadband Internet and data communication services to the nation. In 2015, Benchachinda Group started investing in MIH and bringing in the expertise of its subsidiary, United Information Highway. Utilising advanced optical fibre technology, MIH offers a stable and high capacity broadband platform in Myanmar. Currently, Benchachinda Group holds around 70 per cent stake in the firm.

“We put our investment into MIH in 2015, as part of our plan for regional expansion. In the early years, we had to struggle a lot because there was some hesitation and disputes during the previous government’s term. Things were stalled and not really active until 2017,” Passakorn recalled.

In September 2018, the firm commenced its commercial operations with the launch of Myanmar’s fastest fibre-optic Internet service for businesses. By incorporating its expertise in Thailand and the latest technology, MIH aims to provide a professional service on the most stable telecom platฌform in Yangon.

In pursuit of its vision to become the best broadband service provider for businesses in Myanmar, the firm aims to create a benchmark in the industry for comprehensive connectivity solutions for its clients via extensive netฌwork coverage and international accreditation, said Passakorn.

“Our mission is to connect businesses and society through innovative ICT solutions. We have dedicated technical support teams and round-the-clock monitoring ensures that our business clients will be able to run smoothly. So, we ensure that we maintain high reliability and quality for infrastructure,” he said.

MIH offers premium data services to businesses via a stable and advanced optical fibre technology, up to 10 gigabytes per second.

For IP VPN service, MIH provides a virtual private network to business customers who need private and secured services as well as round-the-clock data centre solutions where the customers choose the environment they need – servers, databases, storage, Internet connection, bandwidth and rack space. MIH’s network is able to connect with the global network via Point of Presence in Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand.

“Our backbone network capacity is developed to support up to 100Gbps. With global technology partners, we are ready to support leading corporates to operate effectively in Myanmar,” said Passakorn.

Last year, MIH secured approval from the Yangon City Development Committee to lay down fibre-optic netฌwork across townships in the city. On October 12, 2018, the firm rolled out Myanmar’s first hybrid Cloud service (MIH CloudShare) for enterprises. The service supports Windows, Mac, iOS and Android without any hardฌware implementation, and provides easy collaboration through online editฌing with daily backup. It provides easy access anywhere regardless of device or operation system, at a reasonable price.

“Our CloudShare service marks a new era, particularly in Myanmar, with its versatility, agility and security for users in the market. The service offers users opportunities for closer collaboration, access to a virtual office that is user-friendly and secure,” said Passakorn.

The firm now has nearly 50 team members, the majority of them locals, except seven Thai employees. It aims to expand its workforce to 70 employees within one year, hiring more marketing and engineering staff.