Thailand Post may outsource bills
Businesses may soon be able to get their monthly bills delivered to customers more quickly by outsourcing their billing back-office operations to Thailand Post Co.The postal unit of the former Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) is considering several new service offerings, including e-messaging, which would connect companies such as telecoms and credit-card issuers with its computer network.
Service providers would forward their billing information online and Thailand Post would zap the data to the post office nearest to the billed party. The local post office would print out the bills and deliver them to the address.
Today firms have to print out bills, stuff them in envelops, pre-sort them and take them to a post office, which needs time to process them and send them on to other post offices for home or office delivery.
The postal service is eyeing the 10 million credit-card and telecom bills mailed out nationwide every month, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said yesterday.
Another new revenue source would be providing banking services at its post office counters, Surapong said at yesterday’s ceremony marking the corporatisation of the CAT into Thailand Post and CAT Telecom Co.
CAT Telecom started life with assets of Bt90 billion, registered capital of Bt10 billion and staff of 6,000. Thailand Post was left with Bt12 billion in assets, Bt750 million in capital and 14,000 employees.
Surapong said CAT Telecom’s listing is now scheduled for early next year.
However, observers question if CAT Telecom will really go public on schedule or share the same fate as TOT Corp, whose own listing has been put off several times – from last year to sometime late this year or next year.
While CAT Telecom’s main business has been carrying international calls, Surapong insists its flagship will be its CDMA high-speed mobile-phone service. However, the project has been delayed indefinitely after he asked the CAT to review it, citing its high cost of Bt32 billion.
CAT Telecom is eager to see the CDMA network installed in outer provinces to link it with the existing network in 22 central provinces operated by its cellular joint venture Hutchison-CAT.
Usanee Mongkolporn
THE NATION
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Copyright © 2003 Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved
