It also offers customers new methods to grow vegetables in their own gardens.

“My job is not related to my field of study, but it has a future,” said Khue, who worked part-time at a biotech centre before starting his business.

After two years, his company began earning a profit.

Many of Khue’s customers have used his consulting services and learned how to grow vegetables at home.

“Many urban residents, including youths, enjoy gardening. We provide clients with gardening equipment and tools, and we also offer information and skills to help them grow vegetables that they can use daily,” he said.

“Our young experts can come and search for their customers’ homes to give advice.

“For customers who can’t build a garden at home, we invite them to join our farm located in B์nh Tnh district, where they can grow and pick vegetables themselves,” he said.

Customers who want to use the service of Nong should have a 10-square-metre area at home. Nong Th’s fee is only 394,000 dong (Bt631).

The fees for using the services at Nong Th’s farm are higher, from 500,000 dong to over 1.2 million dong, depending on the size of land used.

Khue said his service appeals to customers who want safe food and products, and to improve the environment as well.

The agricultural and forestry fields are attracting more university graduates like Khue.

In HCM City and its neighbouring provinces, many local and foreign companies and factories are willing to employ skilled labourers working in the factories.

Recent surveys by job recruiting and career search websites such as Vietnamworks.com, vieclam.vn and careerlink show that many graduates are employed in jobs related to agriculture.

According to Tra Vinh University, the job recruiting sites are seeking more than 320 candidates for stable jobs with high salaries for CP Vietnam Corporation, a leading company in husbandry with investment from Thailand.

Candidates in biochemistry, aquaculture, veterinary and fish medical majors are given priority.

The Masan Group’s Masan Nutri Science is recruiting workers for its two brands, Anco and Proconco, in animal food and breeding.

They offer employees a total yearly salary of 250 million-280 million dong, a high income for graduates.

Explaining the beginning of his career in a husbandry factory in Dong Nai province, Nguyen Thanh Phong, a graduate of the city’s University of Agriculture and Forestry, said he chose his job as it was suited to his skills and labour market demand.

“I plan to develop my own business after I learn at my current job,” he said.

To satisfy labour market demand, agricultural universities recently opened several faculties, such as information technology, environmental technology, biotechnology, food technology and property management.

Besides training more students, the schools have improved curricula and facilities.

Retail

Salinla Seehaphan, corporate affairs director at Tesco Lotus, said the Euro tournament was a key sales catalyst for certain types of products, especially television sets, set-top boxes, soccer jerseys, snacks and beverages.

Customers who choose to watch the games in the comfort of their own homes no longer have to compromise on the viewing experience and image quality, thanks to the availability and affordability of large-screen high-definition TV sets. Often, these customers also buy snacks, frozen foods and beverages to enjoy with friends and family while watching the matches.

She said the retail giant was hosting the “Your Road to Paris with Tesco Lotus” campaign from now through July 13 to welcome Euro 2016.

The campaign will help customers save on more than 2,000 items including television sets, jerseys, frozen foods and snacks (10-per-cent discounts across the board). Maximum discounts on television sets are more than 28 per cent and customers have the choice of a 10-month zero-interest payment plan.

Moreover, customers who spend Bt300 or more can enter a weekly lucky draw to win prizes including soccer jerseys, smartphones and trips to Paris, worth nearly Bt3 million in total.

“As the Euro is one of the most exciting seasonal events, we expect higher customer spending. The most significant sales uplift will be from television sets, expected to be around 20 per cent higher than normal periods,” Salinla said.

“It’s plain to see that Thai people love sports, and football is at the very top of the list.”

Kudatara Nagaviroj, executive adviser for corporate affairs at Big C Supercenter, said the company had collaborated with partners to launch a “Big Save – Super Low Prices” campaign to respond to the excitement around Euro 2016.

“We have invited the famous Thai National Football Team goalkeeper Tong Kawin Thammasajjarak to represent the ‘Big Save’ key features of our campaign,” he said.

The features consist of “weekly crazy deals”. This week’s offers 20 per cent off on all TVs of all brands until Tuesday, then a new crazy deal every week until July 6. There are also interest-free instalments for six months, free home speakers worth Bt1,690 with TV purchase of more than Bt12,000, and a lucky-draw chance with every Bt50 purchase to win one of 26 “Golden Footballs” worth more than Bt2 million in total.

During Euro season, Big C Shopping Online is also offering various products and souvenirs at special prices and gift vouchers.

“During past Euro tournaments, we’ve seen increased sales of television and products consumed during the games such as confectioneries, snacks and beverages,” he said.

Soft drinks

Koki Yamashita, integrated marketing communications manager of Coca-Cola (Thailand), said soccer was one of the most important passion points for consumers. Coca-Cola supports the sport at many levels.

“At the local level, we sponsor the ‘Coke Cup Youth Championship’, at the national level we sponsor the Thai Premier League, and at the global level we sponsor the Fifa World Cup as well as the Uefa Euro Cup.

“At the same time, we are increasingly focusing on grass-roots football for youth and providing them with unique, hands-on football experience in a way only Coke can offer. Inspiring today’s youth is extremely critical and not easy.

“We are very committed not only to promote active healthy living through football but also to inspire youth through the lens of Coca-Cola and nurture their love for the brand,” Yamashita said.

At “Copa Coca-Cola Camp 2016” in Paris, the company will bring three selected young soccer players to join the camp for one week at the beginning of July.

Copa Coca-Cola is claimed to be the world’s largest and most inclusive grass-roots soccer programme. Coca-Cola offers special opportunities to young soccer players from around the world to train in the camp. This year the camp is being held for the third time, and will welcome 80 female and male players from 20 countries, including the three from Thailand.

Electrical appliances

Jiralak Na Chiengtung, vice president for marketing at Power Buy Co, said that in response to the upcoming Uefa Euro tournament, the company was focusing on TV products by setting up two campaigns.

In collaboration with Samsung, Power Buy launched a campaign for customers who buy a Samsung television set. With any Samsung TV purchased in Power Buy between May 5 and June 5, the customer will have a chance to win a trip to Paris to watch the Uefa Euro final match. There are 15 prizes worth a total of Bt6 million.

Power Buy will soon launch another campaign for soccer fans. With any TV purchased at Power Buy from June 1 to July 10, the customer will have a chance to win one of 50 gold necklaces and a Sony 85-inch LED TV for the final match.

Jiralak said TV sets of all brands would see a significant increase in sales.

“We forecast that from Uefa Euro 2016 until the Olympics in August, TV sales will increase by 20 per cent from last year, hence allowing the company to grow by 4-5 per cent in 2016 as planned,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jakkrit Keeratichokchaikun, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer of Power Mall, said Euro 2016 would be another peak sales period of the year as customers would be keener to shop for goods, especially audio-visual products such as large-screen televisions.

To cash in on the soccer tournament, Power Mall has launched a campaign called “Power Mall Big Screen” to offer shoppers discounts of up to 37 per cent on television sets. The campaign will be held until June 29 at all Power Mall branches at The Mall shopping complexes, The Emporium, and Paragon Department Store. The company expects sales 10-15 per cent higher during the Euro tournament compared with the normal period.

Quick service restaurants

Petcharat Uthaisang, chief marketing officer of McThai Co, the local operator of McDonald’s restaurants, said that McDonald’s was one of the main global sponsors for the Uefa Euro tournament as well as the World Cup.

“Football is one of the favourite sports of most Thais. They also have a high engagement with football, and McDonald’s in Thailand will not miss the chance to take part in adding colour to this world-class football tournament,” she said.

“We will have a big surprise in the temporary launch of a new special Euro Set product, which will be from June 3 to July 21.”

Anhul Chauhan, chief marketing officer for the KFC brand at Yum! Restaurants International (Thailand) Co, Ltd, said Uefa Euro was a big event for soccer fans around the world including Thailand, where enthusiasts make it a good occasion to gather and enjoy the game together.

“We’re excited to announce that our new snack food Chizza – a blend of crispy fried chicken topped with special pizza sauce and quality melted cheese – will be available for consumers from May 27 to July 8.”

The “bidding” started at 9.30am, and the telecom committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) endorsed the outcome the same day.

AIS chief executive officer Somchai Lertsutiwong said the competition in the mobile-phone market would mean better service for customers and tapping the new Internet of Things segment or machine to machine communication.

AIS has targeted 10 million customers on its fourth-generation network by the end of this year, up from around 7 million at the present, he said.

True Corp has targeted between 6 million and 7 million 4G customers by the end of the year, up from 4 million last year. Total Access Communication (DTAC) aims to have 6 million 4G customers at the end of this year, up from around 3.1 million at the present.

Somchai said that initially AIS would deploy the 900-megahertz spectrum to serve its 250,000 2G users. Clinching the 900MHz licence will also enable AIS to widen its 4G service coverage quickly to 80 per cent of population by the end of this year, instead of 50 per cent as previously planned.

As this 900MHz band is adjacent to DTAC’s 850MHz band, 2.5MHz of the 10MHz AIS has acquired on the 900MHz spectrum should technically be reserved as a buffer to prevent interference. Somchai said AIS would invest in equipment to enable the company to utilise the full 10MHz. AIS will also talk with DTAC to address this issue.

Somchai said AIS had not revised its 2016 capital-expenditure budget but had maintained it at Bt40 billion.

He said the total regulatory cost of AWN from licences to the 2.1-gigahertz, 1,800MHz and now 900MHz spectra stood at Bt8 billion per year. This is far lower than the Bt20-billion annual fee AIS had paid to TOT during the concession period, which ended last September.

Under the auction rules, AWN has to pay the first instalment of the upfront licence fee of Bt8.04 billion and provide three bank guarantees worth Bt67.614 billion within 90 days or by the deadline of August 24.

Hui Weng Cheong, AIS chief operating officer, said AWN would fulfil these conditions before June 30.

After AWN’s auction win yesterday, AIS holds 15MHz of the 2.1GHz spectrum, 15MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum, and now 10MHz of 900MHz, all under NBTC licences.

AIS is set to sign several deals with TOT as part of a planned partnership to offer 3G service on the state agency’s 15MHz on the 2.1GHz band.

True boasts a total of 55MHz bandwidth, comprising 15MHz of the 2.1GHz spectrum, 15MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum, and 10MHz of the 900MHz spectrum. It has also formed a partnership with CAT to offer 3G service on 15MHz of CAT’s 850MHz spectrum.

DTAC has a bandwidth portfolio totalling 50MHz, consisting of 15MHz on the 2.1GHz spectrum, 10MHz on 850MHz and 25MHz on 1,800MHz.

The latter two were granted under a CAT Telecom concession that will expire in late 2018.

Moreover, DTAC is in talks with CAT on the possibility of jointly utilising the state agency’s idle 20MHz on the 1,800MHz spectrum to offer 4G service.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said the next spectrum to be put to auction would 2.6GHz, which is now being used by MCOT. However, the commission has to wait for the new NBTC law, which will allow it to reclaim spectra from state agencies and pay them compensation.

Another band to be put to auction is 45MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum, of which 25MHz is currently being used by DTAC under the CAT Telecom concession, and which will expired on September 30, 2018. But that auction might have to wait for the new NBTC, as its term will expire on October 7 next year.

According to the NBTC, the value of the 1,800MHz spectrum will be Bt2.692 billion per megahertz, calculated from the total value of more than Bt80 billion the commission gained from auctioning two 1,800MHz licences totalling 30MHz last year.

The telecom committee will meet again on Wednesday to consider its damage claim against Jas Mobile Broadband.

Last December, that company won the 900MHz licence re-auctioned yesterday but lost the right to use it after failing to pay the first instalment of the upfront fee.

Honeywell said the plan offered aviation operators a cost-effective and efficient solution to ensure their fleets were flight-ready.

Under this agreement, Australian Helicopters and Toll Remote Logistics will enrol six and eight AW139 helicopters respectively into the plan and receive a range of services including emergency medical services, search and rescue, aerial work and law enforcement.

SFS Aviation has enrolled two of its AW139 helicopters and one S-76 into HAPP to meet its demanding oil and gas support flight schedules.

“Unplanned aircraft maintenance, repair costs and downtime are some of helicopter operators’ greatest pains today,” said Mark Burgess, a senior executive at Honeywell Aerospace.

“With HAPP, the unpredictability of helicopter maintenance can be mitigated through fixed-price warranty packages, helping operators streamline operational costs and optimise helicopter availability.

“As operators across the region continue to seek ways to increase fleet availability and minimise unexpected costs, Honeywell is proud to partner with Australian Helicopters, Toll Remote Logistics and SFS Aviation … and we are confident in bringing HAPP’s fleet availability and cost savings benefits to more operators in the region.”

Honeywell said HAPP was an extended warranty programme that provided “peace of mind” for aircraft operators, relieving them of the burden of unexpected maintenance costs through a predictable, fixed-price coverage for the exchange of aircraft and repair services for most Honeywell avionics.

The coverage is available for any product maintained in the spare-parts and exchange pool through a global network of supply depots and authorised sales and service centres. This in effect allows Honeywell to ensure there are sufficient assets to support an operator’s fleet.

The programme’s pricing is based on flight hours, aircraft type and on-board equipment. Special pricing is available for fleet operators, regardless of the age of the aircraft, with no buy-in fee required.

Fleet discounts are available alongside flexible payment options that allow operators to renew annually or lock into their current pricing for several years.

Last October, Honeywell signed a three-year agreement with Weststar Aviation Services, a provider of global offshore helicopter transport services based in Malaysia, to enrol 23 of its AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters in the HAPP.

The agreement grants full coverage for Weststar Aviation Services’ avionics suite, including cockpit electrical systems.