AIS sees social responsibility as vital
Advanced Info Service believes corporate social responsibility is key to its sustainable growth and leadership in the cellular business, and that includes strictly complying with all laws and obligations.
"We pay taxes and adhere to the regulations of the SET [Stock Exchange of Thailand]," said CEO Somprasong Boonyachai, who steps up to executive chairman of Shin Corp on July 1. Shin is AIS's parent. AIS also contributes to society by making many donations and sponsoring social projects, including the ongoing campaign to promote the family, which started in 1999, he said during an interview with The Nation last week. AIS has set aside Bt260 million for corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities this year, accounting for 10-13 per cent of its marketing budget. That is up from Bt200 million last year. Thanks to its 20 million-plus customers, AIS has been able to distribute water tanks to remote villages across the country to help them cope with the severe drought. "We plan to distribute 2,000 more water tanks to villages this year after donating some 1,200 tanks last year," Somprasong said. The company's CSR policy would make its customers feel proud that they have used the company's services, he added. An industry observer said AIS needed to focus more on its social contributions at this time in a bid to distance itself from its founder, deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The Shinawatra family disposed of its controlling stake in Shin to an investor group led by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings in January of last year, which triggered street protests against Thaksin. The demonstrators viewed the deal as handing national telecom assets to a foreign entity. Recently the Information and Communications Technology Ministry submitted all major private telecom concessions, including that of AIS, to the Council of State to check whether their amendments were in accordance with the law. Somprasong said that if the incumbent government thinks AIS's concession amendment failed to comply with the law because it was not approved by the Cabinet, the question then is, who had the duty to forward it for Cabinet approval and why didn't it do so. He added that AIS was willing to obey the law, which must be applied to all on an equal basis.
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