MOU with Thailand’s leading telco is part of NCS Telco+ strategy to expand in Asia Pacific and enable telco enterprises across the Singtel Group to scale with digitalisation

Singapore, 2 June 2022 – NCS Telco+ today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) announcing its partnership with Advanced Info Service (AIS), Thailand’s leading provider of mobile services and mobile network operator, to address the digital transformation needs of AIS and other enterprises in the country.

Inked at CommunicAsia 2022 today, the MOU formalises NCS’ support for the digitalisation journey of AIS and the pursuit of joint projects in 5G and IoT transformation, cloud and cybersecurity, enabling enterprises in Thailand to benefit from the combined strengths of AIS’ market leadership and the digital services capabilities of NCS.

Telco+, a strategic business group within NCS, is a joint initiative between Singtel and NCS to help telecom companies transform digitally. NCS Telco+ empowers communication service providers in their digitalisation journey by transforming business operations, capturing value from data, and driving applications of 5G.

At CommunicAsia 2022, NCS Telco+ showcased its key services that enable telcos to reduce tech costs and complexity; accelerate the time to market new products; and create new revenue streams. NCS Telco+ services are available to NCS’ clients and partners in Southeast Asia, North Asia and the Middle East.

Mr Sami Luukkonen, Managing Partner of NCS Telco+ said, “We are committed to supporting the digital transformation needs of telcos with NCS Telco+. Our partnership with AIS marks our entry into the Thai market and an opportunity to bring our domain knowledge and expertise in designing and implementing 5G and IoT solutions, enterprise cloud services platforms and automation services to AIS and its enterprise customers. NCS Telco+ will help improve their operational efficiencies by leveraging data-driven insights, and deliver enhanced customer experiences.”

Mr Tanapong Ittisakulchai, AIS Chief Enterprise Business Officer said, “This partnership is mutually beneficial as it taps on the combined expertise and experience of NCS and AIS to offer capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), cloud transformation and cybersecurity both for enterprises in Thailand, as well as our own digital transformation needs. Together, we look forward to co-create the digital telco of the future, build on our joint ideas and assets, and leverage the efficiencies across the Singtel Group of telcos.”

The NCS Telco+ partnership with AIS was announced against the backdrop of accelerated digitalisation across multiple industries, as enterprises and employees navigated safe management measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a digital telco, AIS’ customers will experience a marked improvement in the speed and accuracy of key processes including, the onboarding for new customers, ensuring seamless operations and issue resolution, as well as offering greater convenience with broader self-service options. The partnership will enhance AIS’ employee competencies via talent development and training programmes, and drive AIS’ internal capabilities as a cognitive telco.

Gartner® expects that end-user spending on IT services in Thailand will grow at a CAGR of 12.1% from 2021 to 2026, reaching US$4.3 billion in 2026¹. In 2021, Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) announced its intention to boost the country’s telecommunications infrastructure and deploy 5G technology to create an ecosystem that links government agencies and private sectors to support this economic evolution, as part of Thailand 4.0, a national digital transformation initiative.

[1] Source: Gartner ‘Forecast: Enterprise IT Spending by Vertical Industry Market, Worldwide, 2020-2026, 1Q22 Update’, Inna Agamirzian et al., 30 March 2022.