Bangkok Post

The investment will be divided into two phases, with the first 1 billion baht used this year for technology and software development excluding transponder rental cost.

The remaining 1.1 billion baht will be spent during the next two years.

This move will double the number of HD channels to 48 for the satellite TV system after the Thaicom 6 satellite is launched in September.

Its cable TV platform will boast 50 HD channels early next year from the current 23.

The increase in HD channels will be automatically upgraded for subscribers in every package except the True Knowledge package.

Anat Mekpaiboonvatana, the managing director of TrueVisions, said it has already signed a 5-year contract to rent transponders from Thaicom 6 satellite but…

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/KgSSn

The Nation

“At least in the first year of the project, we will be able to set up a system that can simulate the flood situation in the Chao Phraya River basin, as the database related to water and floods in this river basin is available now,” Vasant Chatikavanij, senior executive vice president of Loxley, said yesterday.

According to the terms and conditions of the government’s Bt350-billion water- and flood-management programme, all projects must be completed within five years.

Loxley-AGT won the bidding for modules A6 and B4 worth Bt3.9 billion. There are nine modules and the winning bid for each module was disclosed on Tuesday.

The company expects to complete the information system as well as the centre’s main building within three years. After that the company will spend the following two years on technology transfer.

Until the main building is finished, Loxley expects to use some space in state-owned enterprise CAT Telecom’s building as…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/5LdN3

Bangkok Post

Combined passenger volumes at Suvarnabhumi in the January-May period fell by 6.83% year-on-year to 21.8 million, with the number of flights down by 14.8% to 120,900, Airports of Thailand Plc data show.

Rawewan Netrakavesna, Suvarnabhumi’s general manager, credited the reduction mainly to the diversion of low-cost carrier (LCC) traffic to Bangkok’s old Don Mueang airport, which was reactivated as a fully functional facility last October, as well as to other major airports upcountry.

More flights are bypassing Suvarnabhumi including a new direct service between Chiang Mai and Phuket, she said.

Without these flights diverting, Suvarnabhumi’s congestion would be even worse, with passenger throughput easily reaching 60 million this year, far….

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/qv00S

The Nation

The Herald Sun, a tabloid based in Melbourne, claimed in January that Thailand was the most dangerous destination for Australians, followed by Greece. Last year 100 Australians died on Thai soil, it said, citing figures from the Australian Foreign Affairs Department.

TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni yesterday called the report one-sided, as it failed to give enough weight to the fact that tourist arrivals in the Kingdom were growing, many of them repeaters. They like Thailand because of its friendly people and service.

He is sceptical about the statistics collected by the media. In fact, all data on foreign tourists in Thailand have been reported to the Tourism Ministry and also to himself, especially the deaths of foreign tourists.

In the past three decades of his experience, this was not the first time such news on Thai tourism had come from Australia. However, Thailand is still considered a favourite holiday mecca by Australians.

Last year, 930,000 of them visited Thailand, up from 830,000 in 2011 and 700,000 in 2010.

This report was raised at the talks held in Phuket last week between high-ranking officials from the Australian Embassy and Phuket…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/6O1oh

Bangkok Post

Moody’s earlier this month stated that the rice subsidy scheme would not affect the country’s credit rating. Can you expand on this?

We stated in our comment on June 3: “Recent … and any future losses from the rice-buying scheme increase the difficulty of the government’s task of reaching its goal of a balanced budget by 2017 and are credit-negative for the Thai sovereign.”

Saying that losses are credit-negative does not mean we are going to take immediate rating action. Thailand’s government finances would have been stronger had it not had to carry these losses, but the losses are not great enough as they currently stand to change to a material degree the creditworthiness of the…

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/CgWnU

The Nation

Director-general Piramol Charoenpao said his department in cooperation with private enterprises, financial houses, educational and research institutions, and legal and accounting consultants would set up an “AEC Trade and Investment Service Centre” soon.

The centre will aim to help SMEs access information and learn how to penetrate ASEAN markets. It will also encourage SMEs to reap maximum benefits from the ASEAN Economic Community once it gets fully under way in 2015.

“Many enterprises, both local and foreign, are seeking opportunities to penetrate ASEAN markets. SMEs, which are the Kingdom’s key economic drivers, should learn how to develop themselves so as to benefit from the ASEAN integration as well,” Piramol said.

The service centre will also exchange information with enterprises to learn about their problems so that the government can help them increase their efficiency.

The department is scheduled to hold a seminar titled “Post AEC: Future of the Thai Economy under the Market Liberalisation after 2015″ from July 24 to August 1 to educate enterprises about ASEAN and help them increase trade and investment in the…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/qgFsu

Bangkok Post

Wichai Iamsangchan, managing director of T-Holding Co, the distributor and marketer of Sealect canned fish, said until last month, demand had been flat since the second half of last year compared with average annual growth of 3-5% in recent years.

The slowdown in canned fish demand is on a par with that of other grocery items, he said.

In 2012, the overall market value of Thai canned fish was 6.2 billion baht.

The Sealect brand leads in the canned tuna category. T-Holding is a unit of Thai Union Frozen Products, the country’s biggest canned- and frozen-seafood maker.

A company survey showed that more customers are buying ingredients to cook at home. T-Holding expects sales of Sealect canned fish to show growth in the…

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/iUGWb

The Nation

Thailand’s sentiment index dropped to an all-time low of 42 from 60 in the survey.

The Asia Business Sentiment Index climbed 6 points to 71 this month, its highest level in five quarters and the third straight quarterly rise. A reading above 50 indicates a generally positive outlook.

Global economic uncertainty remains the biggest business risk across most countries and sectors, but 44 per cent of the 91 polled companies are now positive about their outlook, up from 30 per cent in the prior quarter.

Corporate sentiment in China, the world’s second-largest economy, remained unchanged at its record low of 50 for a two straight quarters as companies worried about rising costs and global economic uncertainty.

“If you go back a year ago, there was a lot of concern about the global economy – a hard landing in China, a collapse in Europe and a double dip in the US. Some of those fears are still around, but they have certainly faded over the course of last year…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/GWoqj

Bangkok Post

The AoT is expected to introduce the system this year and the board has capped the charge at 50 baht per passenger.

Voradej Harnprasert, director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said the AoT would install an advance passenger processing system (APPS) that would speed up immigration checks at the airport.

APPS will allow customs officials, airport and airline staff and immigration police to obtain the profiles of passengers from their countries of origin.

They will be able to check if passengers are blacklisted or banned from leaving a country. Authorities will share passenger information and ordinary passengers whose profiles are clean can pass immigration checks faster.

The Royal Thai Navy, which operates the U-tapao airport in Rayong, and Bangkok Airways which flies into various regional airports can seek permission…

Full story from Bangkok Post at http://goo.gl/KnA0k

The Nation

Chief executive officer Sorapoj Techakraisri said yesterday that Bt2.7 billion of the development budget would be for 90 villas on the 120-rai (19-hectare) site, Bt500 million for a country club and Bt600 million for a large lagoon, which the company expects will become a new landmark of Hua Hin.

Half of the budget will be borrowed from a bank, which is now in the negotiating process, and half from capital to be raised on the stock market.

About 80 per cent of its target customers will be domestic buyers wanting a second home and the rest foreigners looking for a vacation home in Hua Hin.

The schedule is for bookings to open on October and the grand opening to be held in April of next year.

Construction will commence early next year and be completed by year-end. This will be the main source of its revenue and net income…

Full story from The Nation at http://goo.gl/w3MRo