Norwegian telecom and broadcasting operator Telenor, the major shareholder of Total Access Communication (DTAC) in Thailand, is exploring possible opportunities for entering the competitive local digital application market.
The move is part of the Telenor’s policy of transforming itself from a mobile service provider to an internet and application-based communications service provider.
Executive vice-president of Telenor Kristin Skogen Lund said through DTAC, Telenor plans to launch its new digital services involving financial, mobile advertising and machine-to-machine services in the Thai market next year.
She said Telenor sees high potential in Thailand to drive digital application growth thanks to the increasing proliferation of smartphones and the “democratisation of data” via the internet.
Telenor started its digital application service in 2011 in a drive to capitalise on market opportunities. The service is aimed at creating a new revenue stream.
“We earned up to 15 billion baht from digital service revenue the past nine months or 3% of the Telenor Group’s revenue,” said Kristin Lund.
The figure is expected to top 50 billion baht annually by 2016.
Pakorn Pannachet, a senior vice-president and head of DTAC’s product division, said the company will launch the Google play application to customers in early 2013.
He believes Telenor’s digital services will attract partnerships and strengthen relationships with global telecom operators.
Telenor plans to build a new infrastructure standard with a plug-in backend system for a single integration point for its partners, and internal over-the-top services. This should allow all of Telenor’s business operating units to be able to rapidly deploy the system globally.
