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AIS
has been scrambling to migrate up to 12.9 million 2G customers
after it lost in December an auction of spectrum to rival True
Corp .
It has already shifted about 5 million of those to its 3G and 4G
services and a further 7.6 million 2G users to the network of
second-ranked Total Access Communication Pcl . The company said
on Monday about 400,000 2G subscribers have not been migrated so
far and could be cut off.
Late on Monday, AIS also said it has sought a court injunction
to enable the 2G service to be extended. It was not immediately
clear if the injunction was granted.
While the migration efforts are already raising costs for AIS,
discontinuing the services would be bad publicity for the
company and force some customers to switch to third-ranked True
Corp, analysts said. True will use the spectrum from March 16,
the regulator has said.
AIS shares ended down 2.5 percent at a two-week low on Monday,
while the main Thai index <.SETI> was 0.06 percent higher.
"We think AIS should be able to migrate its subscribers in time
before the shutdown at midnight on March 15," Takorn Tantasith,
secretary general at the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission, said.
The regulator will not allow AIS to automatically move its 2G
subscribers to 3G services without request from its customers,
Takorn said.
AIS chief executive officer Somchai Lertsutiwong told a news
conference on Monday the company has offered free smartphones to
encourage 2G customers to shift to 3G or 4G services. He said
the discontinuation of the 2G services will have only a marginal
impact on its revenue.
"We have done whatever we could to ensure service continuity,"
Somchai said.
AIS, 23 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, has
about 40 million subscribers.
($1 = 35.1200 baht)
(Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong and Manunphattr Dhanananphorn;
Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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