Kyaw Kyaw Win, co-founder and chief executive of Innoveller Co, known for its front-end platform MM Bus Tickets, said in an exclusive interview that the company’s digital base is now ready to serve the nation’s express bus industry as a whole, as it moves to the next level after four years of operations.

“We have formed partnerships with the majority of express bus operators in Myanmar, serving nearly one million inventories [available seats] per month on more than 150 routes across the country,” he said.

“On our digital platform, passengers can freely choose their preferred seats from nearly 700 journeys per day. They no longer need to go to ticket sales centres, but can easily buy a ticket in less than five minutes.”

Kyaw Kyaw Win takes pride in the company’s achievements within a short period of time. Even in the low season when less people travel, more than 700,000 seats are occupied every month. The company enjoys higher growth than expected with an average of nearly 5,000 transactions per month.

Earlier this year, the company secured a six-digit investment in Series A funding from BOD Tech Ventures, a Myanmar-based venture capital firm. Post-funding, Innoveller Co was valued at a seven-digit figure in US dollars and expanded its workforce to over 20 employees. It also hopes to launch a mobile application later this year.

“Funding is really important as we are trying to embark on B2C [business to consumer] platform soon. Currently, we mainly focus on B2B [business to business]. In order to ensure our expansion plans go well, we have spent a couple of months to establish the back-end infrastructure, which would digitally transform the whole industry,” he said.

Instant-seating plan

“All the express bus services in Myanmar must be digitised to facilitate the instant-seating plan for every passenger. This means they all need to invest a lot in infrastructure and digital transformation. With our front-end product, MM Bus Tickets, we are now ready to help them grow further, ensuring cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency as well as reducing discrepancies for the tickets sold.”

Kyaw Kyaw Win considers consumers’ behaviour and over-dependence on cash as the main challenge for the growth of his company as well as the whole industry. He believes that changes in people’s mindset and behaviour could help Myanmar leapfrog in terms of technology.

In this regard, the company has partnered with a number of mobile financial services and digital payment companies to ensure that payment for ticket sales on their website can be collected through different channels, including Visa, MasterCard, Myanmar Payment Union, CB Pay and Wave Money.

“E-wallets are widely available here but people usually do not use them because there are only a few products. Many people in Myanmar mainly use e-wallets for three purposes: transactions, bill payments and mobile top-ups,” he said.

“For the industry to grow further, we need to make sure more products are available on e-wallets. That is why we are trying to integrate our product into major e-wallets to reach out everywhere in the country.”

He said the company’s growth would largely depend on that of Myanmar’s bus industry and the financial sector. He urged companies to invest in the establishment of back-end systems for digital transformation by upgrading the infrastructure and making it compatible and integrated with the latest technology.

The vision aims to continually increase petroleum reserves and capture new business opportunities for the listed company’s sustainable growth, he said.

Taking up his position as CEO today, Phongsthorn said he would lead the company through both “digital transformation”, which enhances operational efficiency and cost competitiveness, and “organisation transformation”, which results in a lean organisation with agile ways of working.

With regard to petroleum exploration and production as the core business, his goal is to increase petroleum reserves to ensure long-term sustainability through securing Gulf of Thailand expiring concessions for both the Bongkot and Erawan fields and via mergers and acquisitions in the Middle East, while accelerating exploration projects in key resources-contributing countries.

To capture new business opportunities for sustainable growth, PTTEP is placing a great emphasis on diversifying into other businesses in the oil and gas value chain, the CEO said.

The “Gas to Power” project in Myanmar is a new initiative that will provide the company with an opportunity to explore beyond exploration and production.

In addition, PTTEP has established EP-Tech Ventures Holding Company Limited, in order to support future new business investment in diverse areas covering robotics and artificial intelligence, maintenance and inspection, and renewable energy, he added.

“Petroleum exploration and production business will continue to face a number of challenges in the next few years, especially those brought by disruptive technology.

“While I believe that petroleum exploration and production will remain our core revenue-generating business, we also need to focus on new related businesses in order to adjust to the changing industry climate.

“I trust that this strategic concept will be a major driver for PTTEP’s future sustainable growth,” Phongsthorn said.

Puttipong said that being Asia’s leading boutique airline, the company needed to continuously innovate and enhance itself with innovation and technologies that would help the company improve its operation and management in the very competitive, fast-growing aviation industry.

At the same time, S&P affirmed its “BBB+” long-term issuer credit rating on the listed telecommunications company.

The outlook revision reflects S&P’s belief that AIS is likely to maintain a capital structure where its debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and appreciation) ratio will not exceed 2.5x and, if so, not for a prolonged period.

While AIS’s revenues and earnings in the first half of this year were broadly in line with the ratings firm’s expectations, the company has curtailed capital spending for equipment and limited its recent spectrum purchase to one 5-megahertz slot in the Thai government’s auction last month.

As such, S&P now expects the company to generate and sustain credit measures that are commensurate with its ratings.

It replaces the Japanese giant’s previous group management vision, brand statement and brand tagline.

The “Essence of Toshiba” will be applied across all Toshiba Group companies and in all markets, as part of an initiative to harmonise and integrate the group’s diverse businesses and operations around the world.

It was introduced in-house throughout Toshiba’s global organisation on July 1.

From today, it will be deployed in all of the group’s activities, supported by a new visual identity.

The scope of the rebranding will be revealed through a global advertising campaign, a refreshed digital and social strategy, along with a full set of branded communications materials and assets.

Ichiro Hirata, Toshiba’s corporate vice president and leader of the Brand Project Team, said: “We believe these strategic moves will help us establish strong foundations for Toshiba’s future. Our updated brand identity reflects our ambition to contribute to a planet that’s safer and cleaner, a society that’s both sustainable and dynamic, a life as comfortable as it is exciting, setting us on a path to deliver answers that will bring on a brilliant new day.”

Tee received a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Chulalongkorn University and a master’s in management science and engineering, finance and investment from Stanford University in the United States.

He has previously served as chief finance officer at US-based multinational Merrill Lynch, and at leading companies in Thailand, including Thai Beverage, The Mall Group and Thai Solar Energy.

Tee joined AIS in 2017 as deputy CFO.

This will, in turn, improve its capacity to attract new customers and retain existing customers, the listed company said on Monday.

The acquisitions, executed to implement its transformation strategy as part of campaigns to strengthen its existing business and enter new businesses through acquisitions, will enable it to start earning fresh revenue of around Bt1 billion per year as early as this quarter, and thus achieve the firm’s full-year 2018 growth target, TPBI chief executive officer Somsak Borrisuttanakul said.

The investments, intended to fuel expansions and enhance TPBI’s strengths, will cost around Bt600 million and will be financed by the proceeds from the company’s 2016 initial public offering.

TPBI International, a fully owned subsidiary, has signed agreements to buy all ordinary shares in IPM and ITP – both UK-based companies – and 25 per cent of the ordinary shares in ITPA, with the remaining 75 per cent of the Australian firm held by ITP, Somsak explained.

IPM is a manufacturer and supplier of paper packaging products to the food and bakery industries and shopping malls in the UK, while ITP engages in the trading of plastic packaging products – such as reusable bags, and bags for vegetables, fruits and other foods – in Australia, the UK and other European countries.

ITPA, meanwhile, trades in plastic packaging products in Australia.

The acquisitions will increase TPBI’s competitiveness in the world market through an entry in the business of producing and supplying eco-friendly paper packaging products, with a manufacturing base in the UK and channels for distribution of reusable plastic packaging in Australia, the UK and other European markets, the CEO said.

They will allow TPBI to produce reusable bags and use the channels to fulfil market demand, and will add to the variety of reusable products that the company can produce as it will be able to reuse plastic granules as raw materials, he added.

The acquisitions will also enable the company to tap the rising global demand for eco-friendly packaging products.

Moreover, TPBI is seeking to employ paper packaging for the research and development of new products for distribution in Thailand, Somsak said.

Its Siam facility on Chula Road Soi 16 is already open, initially offering between one and 11 square metres. Phase 2 will include strong-rooms.

A second facility will open in the Sathorn area next year, making JWD Store It Thailand’s large self-storage business by operational area, chairman and chief executive Charanin Bunditkitsada said on Monday.

With registered capital of Bt100 million, JWD Store It, which is 90 per cent owned by the Thai partner, has been operating its self-storage facility at the Zy Walk shopping mall on Chula Soi 16 since June.

The company’s president Bundit Sapianchai said that on September 28, 2018, the Company had completed the asset transaction for two solar power plants in Japan with a total production capacity of 27.53 MW; Nikaho Project (13.16 MW) and Nagi Project (14.37 MW), to an infrastructure fund in Japan.

“After deduction of expenses, this asset transaction will bring in a cash flow of no less than 11 billion Japanese Yen to the Company. Following a repayment of approximately 7 billion JPY, more than 4,000 billion JPY will remain as cash in hand of This is in line with BCPG’s strategy to maximize benefits for shareholders by lowering the Debt to Equity Ratio, stabilizing cash flow and seeking ways to gain more cash for the new growth both domestically and internationally,” Bundit said.

The NBTC is allowing potential bidders to pick up applications from

Monday to October 8. The submission date is on October 9.

DTAC head of regulatory division and senior vice president, Narupon

Rattanasamaharn said after picking up the application that DTAC would

now conduct a feasibility study of the criteria and procedures for the

license and will submit this to both the investment and full board

meetings to make a final decision on the auction.

The starting bid price of the licence is Bt37.988 billion.

DTAC Chief Corporate Affairs and Business Development Officer Rajiv

Bawa said, “When considering an almost Bt38 billion, there are

procedures any listed company must follow to ensure all stakeholders’

rights are protected. DTAC is therefore appreciative of the NBTC’s

flexibility on the submission timeline. This will ensure sufficient

time for DTAC to properly complete our overall process and governance

procedures.

The NBTC board last week endorsed the latest revised version of the

draft rules for the re-auction of this 900MHz licence. The revision

contains minor changes on wording and the auction timeframe, in line

with views aired at a recent public hearing.

The date for the submission of bid applications has been put back by

one day, to October 9.

Another change is that in the event of only one company submitting a

bid or no bids being received, the submission date will be extended by

seven days to October 16. In the previous draft, the auction was to be

aborted if no bids came in.

The auction date remains unchanged at October 20. If there is only one

participating bidder, the auction will be moved forward to October 28,

from November 3 as previously set.

The NBTC reclaimed 1800MHz and 850MHz from DTAC after its concession

ended this month, rebanding the 850MHz as the 900MHz for auction in

August. However, no firms submitted bid applications for the900MHz,

prompting the first auction to be aborted.