TELECOM | SIM card loaded with Thai, Chinese numbers launched in Bangkok
BANGKOK, THAILAND — China Mobile International (CMI) and Thai mobile carrier TrueMove H announced the launch of first communication service, CMLink TrueMove H Thailand 4G SIM, combining Thai and Chinese mobile numbers on Friday, targeting Chinese tourists and Chinese living in Thailand.
According to the mobile operators, the advantages of newly-launched SIM include getting messages forwarded from the Chinese mainland mobile numbers for free and enjoying a 1,000-minute free call from Thailand to the Chinese mainland.
The service supports multiple payment methods including China’s popular payments such as WeChat Pay, Alipay and Union Pay.
“China Mobile currently has over 900 million mobile subscribers. CMI is devoted to providing our high-quality services to overseas market,” said Julie Ning, country head of Thailand for the CMI.
“This is another significant step for us to not only become a leader in telecommunication business in our country, Thailand, but also a regional player, standing strongly to compete in the Asia Pacific region,” said Justin Ang Keng Tiong, True Corporation’s deputy group chief commercial officer.
The CMI said in a statement that the United Nations Population Division indicates that the number of Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia had been on a steady rise from 2000 to 2017 with more than one third of the total number of immigrants moving to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Moreover, Thailand is one of the most popular travel destinations in Southeast Asia, attracting a vast amount of Chinese tourists.
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand announced in 2018 that Chinese visitors achieved first place in terms of the amount of revenue and number of tourists.