Wisut said that according to GlobalWebIndex’s survey of Internet users aged 16 to 64, in the fourth quarter last year Thailand was ranked No 4 in the world in terms of the average length of time spent using the Internet per day.

Thais sent an average of 4.7 hours per day on the Internet, behind Brazil (5.2 hours), the Philippines (5.2 hours) and South Africa (4.9 hours).

Wisut said the time Thais sent on the Internet continued to rise, particularly via smart phones.

“Social media is the first touch point for customers. Therefore, AIS is developing a digital store bundled with our physical stores to create a total experience for our customers,” he added.

To cash in on this O2O marketing trend, LINE Thailand is transforming itself from a chatting platform to a business gateway.

Nam Do, commercial director of corporate business for LINE Thailand, said that Thailand was a mobile-first country, meaning most online activities were done via smartphones.

Interestingly, Nam said 60 per cent of web-browsing was for e-commerce and as such e-commerce was evolving into mobile and social commerce.

Dangjaithawin Anantachai, chief executive officer of Intage Thailand, a marketing research agency, said via the O2O approach brands should collaborate with customers and deliver a total consumer experience to create long-term engagement with target groups, particularly the new generation.

John Smurthwaite, Asia-Pacific ambassador of the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research, a global association, suggested that because of advances in digital technology brands should collect real actionable data that helped them find the right way to analyse consumer insights, leading to data-driven customisation.

In line with the rise of Internet use in the Kingdom, the Digital Advertising Association (Thailand) said that advertising investment was not only used to publicise brands but to boost sales.

Siwat Chawareewong, vice president of the association, said that Thai consumer behaviour had rapidly changed in the past two years following the launch of 3G/4G wireless broadband Internet. “Thai audiences always loved watching online videos. But now they have become online shoppers,” Siwat said.

Siwat, who is chief executive officer of mInteraction, a digital media agency, explained that his company was witnessing an increasing number of clients that had added budgets for e-commerce on top of publicising their brands and products, particularly for dairy and hair preparation products, food delivery, and financial and insurance services.

In line with this increasing demand, major retailers in the Kingdom are also jumping on the bandwagon by making their products available online for consumers. Banks are also improving their mobile-banking services to support financial transactions between retailers and buyers. Those quoted in this article shared their insights about how to deal with challenges amid changes in the marketing ecosystem, as well as how to gain a better understanding of coming trends, at a forum last week entitled “What’s Coming Next: Thailand’s Future Trends”. The event was organised by the Thailand Marketing Research Society.

The upgrade is expected to take place in the third quarter.

CAT granted the concession to DTAC to offer a cellular service on 50MHz of 1800MHz, half of which DTAC currently uses. Later CAT allocated 5MHz of the remaining idle 25MHz to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to auction off, leaving 20MHz unused.

CAT will draw up the partnership contract with DTAC, which will see DTAC rolling out 9,500 cellular base stations for a 4G service. But the network will still be owned by DTAC. Then CAT will send the contract for examination by the Council of State, the ICT Ministry, and the Cabinet.

DTAC will use 85 per cent of capacity of the planned network to provide the 4G service, while CAT will wholesale the balance capacity to interested companies.

DTAC has declined to comment on the matter.

A CAT source said that CAT board wanted to extend the use of this idle band from 2018 until 2025. The board had advised management to tell the government that if the valid period of the spectrum was extended, CAT would continue to gain substantial revenue from using the spectrum to develop wireless broadband services.

Rolls-Royce executive Hugh Vanijprabha, managing director for Thailand, joined executives from Senior Aerospace and key executives from partners and customers at the opening ceremony.

“We congratulate Senior Aerospace Thailand on its expanded facility and look forward to continuing our long-term relationship,” he said.

“Southeast Asia is an important region for Rolls-Royce as a strategic base and business opportunity. As the civil aerospace market grows globally, our strategy is to create strong regional aerospace supply chains. Southeast Asia, for example, has the potential to be a supply hub for our manufacturing operations in Singapore.

“There is strong potential for new supply-chain opportunities in Thailand given its existing aerospace ecosystem, and Senior Aerospace is proof of this. It is great to see our long-term supply partners like Senior Aerospace establishing and growing their presence here. It’s a testament to the efforts of Thailand to nurture opportunities to expand its aircraft-parts-production and aircraft-maintenance industry.”

Rolls-Royce Holdings operates across five businesses: civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine, nuclear, and power systems.

The company has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.

Annual underlying revenue was 13.4 billion pounds (Bt658 billion) in 2015, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at 76.4 billion pounds at the end of 2015.

In 2015, Rolls-Royce invested 1.2 billion pounds on research and development. It also supports a global network of 31 University Technology Centres.

Rolls-Royce employs more than 50,000 people in more than 46 countries. Nearly 15,700 of these are engineers. The group says it has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to developing employee skills. In 2015 it employed 228 graduates and 277 apprentices through its worldwide training programmes.

Rising sales of printing machines in the CLMV area, along with technologies and new printing innovation launched recently in Germany by global manufacturers, have significantly improved the overall printing industry, the association said.

Thai GASMA will conduct roadshows in neighbouring countries in a bid to persuade printing houses to buy new printing technologies that will be showcased at the “Gasma Print 2016” trade show, due to be held in Thailand from September 14-17.

President Chaiwat Harnsomwong said the association was announcing Thailand as the printing-technology hub for CLMV because sales of printing machines and technologies in the Kingdom had risen significantly, while Thai investors had been active in forming joint printing houses with local businessmen in CLMV markets.

This means businesses in these neighbouring markets are now purchasing printing machines and materials such as paper and ink from Thailand, he said.

While the situation is favourable for Thailand to be the regional printing-technology hub, the country is also an aviation hub, so air travel in and out |of CLMV countries for business and trade is very convenient and cheap, he said.

Moreover, land transportation through border checkpoints is smooth and convenient, as well, with basic infrastructures such as new roads to facilitate border trade also resulting in trucks being able to deliver Thai products to the capitals and other major industrial cities in neighbouring markets.

The political situation in the four CLMV countries has also become more stable, he added.

A major factor driving sales of printing machines and technologies is the launch of new innovations by many manufacturers at the “Drupa 2016” trade fair, which was held in Germany early this month.

These innovations are expected to help lower printing costs, enhance printing efficiency and increase profits, Chaiwat said, adding that they could help revive the overall printing industry, which had been saturated for years.

Kosol Chotikarn, Thai GASMA vice president and chairman of the organising committee for “Gasma Print 2016”, said the launch of new printing innovations by major manufacturers worldwide at the German trade fair was perfectly timed, as many of them would be showcased in September at the Thai event, to be held at Bitec in Bang Na.

“From our experience of trade negotiations in neighbouring countries, we have found that the purchase of printing machines and technologies for printing houses in those countries must be made through distributors in Thailand. Leading international brands have their sales offices or distributors in Thailand.