Wichian, whose appointment takes effect today, admitted the call jams among cellular networks in the second quarter, due to a fierce price war, had hurt AIS' image as the best provider.

"Quality is our strongest point. Our marketing direction will also be adjusted to be in line with the policy of quality comes first," he said.

Yesterday AIS' board approved his promotion from executive vice president for operations to fill the post vacated in the first quarter by Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin. CEO Somprasong Boonyachai has been acting as president.

Vice president Titipong Khiew-paisal said AIS' network quality has returned to normal after heavy upgrading. AIS also said in its filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday that its board had approved a US$155-million (Bt5.8 billion) expansion of the network.

AIS posted a second-quarter net profit of Bt4.126 billion, down 5.1 per cent on the year and 22 per cent on the quarter, due to the price war. Its six-month net profit dropped to Bt9.415 billion from Bt9.93 billion last year.

Its total revenues of Bt22.508 billion showed an increase of 0.9 per cent on year but a decline of 8.8 per cent from the previous quarter.

AIS' stock closed down 3.11 per cent to Bt93.50 on profit-taking. It had risen 4.3 per cent to Bt96.50 on Friday ahead of yesterday's earnings report.

Analysts had expected AIS to realise a lower profit in the quarter, due to its launches of aggressive pricing campaigns to retain customers and woo new ones amid fierce campaigns of its main rivals.

AIS has more than 17.3 million subscribers, while Total Access Communication has 10 million and True Move 5.4 million.

The surge in traffic from the price war in the mobile-phone industry in the second quarter caused network gridlock. Customers howled that they couldn't connect to other networks. But some analysts said AIS' average revenue per user should pick up in the third quarter, because the price war has eased and most promotions have already expired.

Monrat Phadungsit, executive vice president for ING Funds (Thailand) Ltd, was reported by Dow Jones Newswires as saying that AIS is good for investors who love a dividend stock. But it's risky that the company is in a capital-intensive industry, which may impair its ability to pay dividends in the future.

Yesterday AIS kicked off four monthly post-paid promotional packages to maintain its existing two million post-paid customer base and encourage calling within its network.

One package charges a monthly fee of Bt1,199 and allows calls within the network for Bt2 for the first minute and Bt0.50 per subsequent minute. Calls to another networks will be billed at Bt2 per minute.

AIS' post-paid service sees monthly average revenue per user of Bt1,000.

AIS gained a net 684,000 subscribers during the second quarter, compared to a net increase of 225,000 subscribers in the previous quarter, as a result of its aggressive promotions to attract and retain subscribers.

AIS' board declared a first-half dividend of Bt3 per share.

It also approved additional investment in AIS' wholly owned international gateway, AIS International Network, which will increase its registered capital from Bt1 million to Bt200 million and paid-up capital from Bt1 million to Bt100 million.

Meanwhile, True Corp Plc posted a second-quarter net loss of Bt1.5 billion, compared with a net loss of Bt964 million last year and a net profit of Bt498 million in the previous quarter, due partially to the stiff competition.

Telecom Reporters

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