Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS) is

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

's largest GSM

mobile phone operator A mobile phone operator, wireless provider, or carrier is a mobile telecommunications company that provides wireless Internet GSM services for mobile device users. The operator gives a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into the mobile dev ...

with 39.87 million customers as of Q3 2016. Founded in April 1985, AIS started off as a computer rental business. In October 1990, it launched analog 900 MHz mobile phone services with a 20-year monopoly concession from the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT), and later became the first company allowed to operate on the GSM-900

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from '' angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is ...

. It acquired Shinawatra Paging in June 1992. The company is controlled by the Intouch Holdings (formerly

Shin Corporation Intouch Holdings PCL ( th, บริษัท อินทัช โฮลดิ้งส์ จำกัด (มหาชน); formerly Shin Corporation) is a Thai holding company which focuses on telecommunication industry. It is the parent c ...

), headed by

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean state holding company owned by the Government of Singapore. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek owns and manages a total of US$496.59 billion (S$671 billion) in assets u ...

, a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

government-owned agency. AIS listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on . As of 23 December 2011, Intouch holds 40.45 percent of the shares of the company and Singapore Telecommunications (also majority-held by Temasek) together with Thai Trust Fund and OCBC Nominees holds a 23.32 percent stake. Temasek bought the AIS brand through the 2006

acquisition Acquisition may refer to: * Takeover, the purchase of one company by another * Mergers and acquisitions, transactions in which the ownership of companies or their operating units are transferred or consolidated with other entities * Procurement, ...

of the Shin Corporation from ousted former Prime Minister

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra ( th, ทักษิณ ชินวัตร; ; ; Chinese: 丘達新; cnr, Taksin Šinavatra; born 26 July 1949), is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, ...

. In February 2014, in a conflict between the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PRDC) and Shinawatra, the PDRC called for a boycott of AIS, wrongly believing it to be owned by the Shinawatra family.

Subsidiaries

* Advanced Contact Center Company Limited (ACC) - operate AIS Call Center 1175 and 1148 * Advanced Datanetwork Communications Company Limited (ADC) - provide online data communication service via telephone lines under the name "Datanet", licensed by TOT * DataNetwork Solutions Company Limited (DNS) - provide online data communication service via telephone lines under the name "Datanet" in the provincial area * mPay - payment processing and e-wallet service

mPay

mPay, an AIS subsidiary, is a

payment processor A payment processor is a system that enables financial transactions, commonly employed by a merchant, to handle transactions with customers from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards or bank accounts. They are usually broken dow ...

and one of Thailand's three major

payment service provider A payment service provider (PSP) is a third-party company that assists businesses to accept electronic payments, such as credit cards and debit cards payments. PSPs act as intermediaries between those who make payments, i.e. consumers, and thos ...

s. Its partners include CIMB and 2C2P. According to a 2014 article in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's ''The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', mPay has around 1.6 million registered users, of which roughly 1.2 million are end-users and 400,000 are mPay agents. 150,000 of mPay's end-users use the service monthly, spending on average 30,000 baht. In November 2015, four million people in Thailand used mPay, and in August 2013, mPay had around 700 merchant partners.

Services and coverage

As of August 2019, AIS is the largest network in Thailand, with 40.1 million subscribers. In addition to post pay services, AIS offers prepaid services under the ''1-2Call'' brand. Currently (2020) data is sold in time-based, volume-based and unlimited packages. AIS operates 2G , 3G WCDMA/ HSPA+,

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a telephone and mobile broadband standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement *** LTE Advanced Pro * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers produced by Compaq * ...

5G NR 5G NR (New Radio) is a new radio access technology (RAT) developed by 3GPP for the 5G (fifth generation) mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. As with 4G (LTE), it is based on OFDM. Th ...

, NB-IoT, and eMTC networks.

Wi-Fi hotspots

AIS owns and operates more than 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots under the name "AIS SUPER WIFI."

Next G

In 2017 AIS announced it has teamed up with

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, a ...

to combine Wi-Fi and LTE in a gigabit-speed mobile service called AIS Next G. The new network is estimated to be 15 times faster than the existing LTE and four times faster than the tri-band LTE-A, the fastest wireless network currently available in Thailand.

AIS Play

AIS also provides online multiplatform entertainment, business and financial services called AIS Play that was launched on 1 February 2017. AIS Play is the first Thai OTT TV with 4K resolution, VOD and more than 100 popular channels. The current channel lineup is: Following with Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific: *

Warner TV Warner TV is a pay television channel mainly airing in Latin America, Europe, parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International unit that focuses on airing American series and films. Mos ...

* HLN * Cartoon Network *

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...

* Discovery Asia *

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily d ...

* TLC * Asian Food Channel * Food Network Asia *

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

Following With Paramount Global (Asia) *

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

(Include On Demand) * Nick Jr. (Include On Demand) *

Paramount Network Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was or ...

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Med ...

(On Demand Only) * Paramount Pictures (On Demand Only) Following with Rock Entertainment: * Rock Entertainment * Rock Extreme * Love Nature Following with BBC Studios * BBC World News * BBC Lifestyle * BBC First (On Demand, TBA) Other Channels: * EGG Network * Edge Sports * beIN Sports (1-5) * Golf Channel Thailand (A-la-carte) *

Techstorm TechStorm is a pay TV channel that carries Asian esports and tech-centric content. It debuted on StarHub and Singtel in 2019 and 2020 respectively The channel is owned and operated by TechTV Network Pte Ltd in Singapore. It was founded by Singapo ...

* HITS * HITS Movies On Demand Brand * TIGA * GDH Subscription Apps *

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both ...

(Exclusive Disney+ Hotstar privilege is for AIS customers and AIS Fibre customers who use AIS mobile number) * Viu * beIN Sports Connect *

WeTV We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming. As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Ameri ...

* AIS Karaoke *

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

* MONO MAX Freemium channels: *

NHK World Japan NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

* CNA * DW *

Euronews Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective. The majority of Euron ...

* Doonee by AIS (On Demand) * Zee Nung * Al Jazeera English *

Arirang TV Arirang International Broadcasting is a South Korean-based broadcasting company operated by the International Broadcasting Exchange Foundation. It began as a cable TV service in South Korea on February 3, 1997, and opened Korea's first overseas ...

* TV5MONDE Asie There's over 100 free to air channels, including some Local channels, available to stream. In 2021 AIS partnered with

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

, Thailand's top-tier football league, to broadcast their matches through their AIS Play application. The deal will cover the whole 2021-2022 season and will also include matches played in the lower Thai league, Thai League 2 and

Thai League 3 Thai League 3 or Thailand Regional Championship, commonly known as the T3, is the third level of Thai football. It was started in 2017 First season. In 2017, the League is divided in 2 regions and participated by 32 clubs 1st-4th clubs from 8 ...

. Additionally, the

Thai FA CUP The Thai FA Cup ( th, ไทยเอฟเอคัพ), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domest ...

will also be broadcast by AIS on AIS Play. At present, most of the business halls of AIS has mainly promoted and sold

Apple TV An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ...

products, and equipped with AIS Play soft terminal applications.

Company logo

File:Logo-ADVANC.png, Previous logo File:Advanced Info Service (logo).png, Current logo, changed on 29 September 2011

References

External links

* {{Thaksin Shinawatra Companies established in 1986 Mobile phone companies of Thailand Intouch Holdings Companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand 1986 establishments in Thailand Thai brands SET50 Index