Bangkok--Aug 3--Aziam Burson-Marsteller
True Corporation, which has revolutionized Thailand’s broadband market with hi-speed Internet, has launched Trueworld.net, which offers Internet consumers a unique new multimedia experience of exciting lifestyle content including a huge selection of music, sports and information. In addition, Trueworld.net supports Thailand’s content development industry bringing the country into the digital age.
“As a lifestyle enabler, we have transformed the Internet into a new dimension of experience for millions of people in Thailand,” said Mr. Supachai Chearavanont, CEO of True Corporation Plc. “It can be highly personalized, offering entertainment, information and virtual communities. Moreover, the Internet is creating new business models. Last year, True’s hi-speed Internet service changed the nature of Thailand’s Internet market by making broadband more affordable and accessible to Thai people. We are well on the way to reaching nearly 300,000 broadband customers by the end of the third quarter, which represents over 80% of broadband users in the Thai market. By the end of 2005, we are aiming for 400,000 users. Today, with Trueworld.net, we are providing this growing base of broadband users with the multimedia content they are looking for.”
Trueworld.net is a place where broadband users can easily find something they want from a wide range of content. “Think of it as a starting point for broadband users in Thailand who are looking for entertainment, information and content relevant to their lifestyles, but don’t want to hunt all over the Internet to find it,” said Mr. Ardkit Suntornwat, Director and General Manager of Multimedia Services for True Corporation Plc. “Our market research showed that while most people have common interests — such as music — we all have personal preferences and want to choose things ourselves. Therefore, Trueworld.net offers a wide choice of content that users can enjoy in a highly personalized experience optimized for broadband delivery.”
True has invested over 200 million baht to develop Trueworld.net, forging relationships with partners in Thailand and all over the world. It will offer a subscription model that meets international standards while aggregating content from local and international providers into a simple, structured, highly usable portal that meets the needs of everybody from power users to beginners.
True broadband offers the capability to deliver high quality audio and video so customers can enjoy the programs they want to see, when they want to see them. Some of the exciting content includes:
Music by True World
Trueworld.net offers a library that will contain by the end of this year over 1 million songs from dozens of leading music labels, including over 200,000 Thai songs and 800,000 international songs, with new songs being added every day. Trueworld.net users will also be able to access an archive of over 20,000 of the latest and past music videos. With Music Station, Trueworld.net users can create their own personalized radio station from the music collection.
Sports by True World
Trueworld.net offers a great selection of video content featuring favorite teams such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, with classic matches, game highlights, special interviews with players and team officials, live game updates and expert commentary. Other sports content will include tennis, golf, NBA basketball and more.
Animation by True World
Trueworld.net will also offer popular animated cartoons developed in Thailand, such as The Three Kingdoms — which is an exclusive on Animation World.
eBOOK by True World
This will offer a multimedia reading experience with publications from 15 of Thailand’s leading publishers, with more to come in the future. A great complement to the printed edition of magazines, eBOOK will bring printed pages to life with live links to audio and video content.
Astrology by True World
Trueworld.net users curious about the future can make appointments with renowned astrologers for interactive, on-line sessions featuring several of the most popular fortune-telling methods in Thailand.
According to Mr. Supachai: “Trueworld.net puts Thailand among the four or five countries in Asia where digital content development has been advancing rapidly. True realizes that it will take time to build this new category of online content but we are confident that Thai consumers will welcome this exciting new experience in their lifestyles. Trueworld.net is accessible by both broadband and dial-up narrowband users. However, with True hi-speed Internet, customers will be able to enjoy the full multimedia experience.”
True is unveiling a beta version of Trueworld.net at the Bangkok International ICT Expo 2005. The company will run beta trials over the next several weeks. Full details of the service will be available at the time of full commercial launch.
Mr. Supachai added that Trueworld.net not only offers high-value content to Thailand’s broadband users, but also creates a new opportunity for local content providers to reach consumers. “If it were not for the vision and conviction of content providers in the growth and development of the digital age, consumers would not be able to access good and valuable content to enrich their lifestyles. True welcomes other content providers to join us and take advantage of the many benefits we provide including digital rights management (DRM) and payment collection on their behalf through our system,” he said.
“Thailand needs to keep moving to stay competitive in the rapidly changing digital age. Major integrated communications companies such as True are already supporting this government goal. This is why we led the way in making broadband affordable, and why True is taking a similar initiative for content with Trueworld.net. We aim to stimulate Thailand’s content development industry as well as support the government’s goal to make Thailand a regional hub for content, Web services and all types of IT development,” said Mr. Supachai.
For further information, please contact:
Pimolpan/ Nawanooch/ Narumol/ Prodpran
True Corporation Tel. 02-699-2771-3 /02-643-9691 #1-3
Steve Vincent/ Jamaree/ Porntip
Aziam Burson-Marsteller Tel. 02-252-9871 End.