Advanced Information Services

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In 1990, Advanced Information Service (AIS) was awarded the first private BOT mobile project to operate in the NMT and digital GSM 900 MHz frequency range in Thailand. The project duration was initially for 20 years, but was extended to 25 years in 1996. As a part of its license agreement, AIS had to pay 20-30% of its gross revenues as a royalty fee to the state-owned Telecommunications Organization of Thailand (TOT) during the life of the contract. In early 2003, the Ministry of Finance promulgated a royal decree governing the excise tax rate applicable to the telecommunication industry. This 10% excise tax, collectable on telecommunication service revenues, was deducted from the royalty fees payable to TOT under the previous agreement. AIS was initially wholly owned by the Shinawatra Communications (Shin Corp) of Thailand. AIS was listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on November 5, 1991. In February 1999, Shin Corp sold 18% equity to Singtel's subsidiary, Singapore Telecom International Private (STI), which generated over US$218 million (8.28 billion baht). Of this amount, US$105 million (4 billion baht) was invested in network expansion. As of 2005, Shin Corp. had a 42.82% stake, STI had 19.25% and various others held the remainder. The company launched its NMT 900 analogue cellular network in the Bangkok area in October 1990. The GSM 900 network was launched in October 1994. In 1996 the company awarded a US$119.3 million contract to Ericsson and a US$18 million contract to Siemens in April 1996. AIS signed additional contracts with Ericsson (US$100 million) and Nokia (US$110 million) in April 1997. In 1999, AIS again awarded a US$65 million contract to Ericsson to assist in the network expansion to be completed by the first quarter of 2000. In 2002, the company awarded Nokia with a US$50 million contract to expand its GSM network and a US$155 million contract to Ericsson for its end-to-end GPRS network. In August 2001, Shin Corp. bought out its then paritaly owned, Digital Phone Company, a mobile competitor of AIS, gaining 98.17% of the company. Digital had won a 17-year license to launch a nationwide PCN1800 cellular service network in 1996 and was an operator of GSM 1800 digital mobile phone network with registered and paid-up capital of Baht 8,556 million. Following the US$245 million purchase, Shin Corp made Digital a subsidiary of AIS. At the end of 2005, AIS served a total of 16.4 million subscribers, comprising 2 million subscribers on AIS GSM and GSM 1800 and 14.4 million subscribers in AIS One-2-Call! and Sawasdee, ahead of major competitors DTAC and TA Orange. In 2006, AIS expected to spend $407 million in expanding its network footprint and deploying 3G services to its 19.5 million subscribers. Approximately half of the spending was expected to be spent on increasing coverage, while the remainder was expected to be spent on 3G services, pending approval of a 3G telecom policy from the Thai Telecom Regulator, NTC. In January 2006, the family of Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra sold its 49.59% stake in Thai conglomerate Shin Corp to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and a group of Thai investors for THB73.3 billion (USD1.9 billion). Shin Corp owned a 42.9% stake in Advanced Info Systems (AIS). This added the 21.4% share of AIS which Temasek already controlled through its subsdiary company,Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel). Therefore, the total of Temasek shares came to 64.3%. Stock Exchange of Thailand: the company's stock ticker id is ADVANC. In Annual Reports, Investment is recorded as Under "Cash Flows from Investing Activities": Property, Plant and Equip. + Cash invested under concession agreement.