Accelerate 2010 aims to discover and bring together ICT & Media innovation across various market segments.  Along with showcasing technology innovation, it also provides access to the largest telecom operators and industry players in Asia. Getting individual access to these personnel in an event with 1,500 people can be difficult. That’s why SingTel has devised a Deal Room program to match selected companies with market makers to explore partnership opportunities.

Through this program, selected top 80 companies will get to pitch to a panel comprising of representatives from SingTel (Singapore), Optus (Australia), Bharti Airtel (India), Telkomsel (Indonesia), Globe (Philippines) and AIS (Thailand), as well as an audience of potential customers, trade agencies like International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, and other Accelerate attendees.

We spoke to Yip Hon Mun, one of the panelists in the Deal Room to find out what he is looking for from the Deal Room candidates. Hon Mun is Vice President at Advanced Information Services (AIS), the largest GSM mobile phone operator in Thailand with 28.8 million customers.

Hon Mun mentions that AIS is primarily looking for companies that have a good track record of being reliable and service-minded. These companies should be interested in operating their business in Thailand and supporting the existing services provided by AIS.

Since pitching to telcos can be a daunting task for some, Hon Mun has some tips and advice to make it in the Deal Room. He will be mainly looking for the following three aspects in their presentations:

Market problems and solutions - Deal Room candidates should elaborate on the problem they are trying to solve, explain how widely the problem is felt and how they will solve it.  They should also detail how their solution is different from other solutions in the market.

Business model – The second aspect of their presentation should focus on their company’s business model, including revenue model, pricing, competitive advantage, market share and brand loyalty.

Partnership proposals – Finally, the companies should provide a clear explanation of their value proposition to the telco partners and what kind of support they are looking for in return.

Hon Mun mentions that selected partners will be able to leverage AIS’s sales and marketing channels and local ‘tier 1′ support that includes billing and provisioning. He opined that it’s relatively difficult for overseas businesses to gain entry into the Thailand market without the help of local partners. That’s where AIS can help Deal Room candidates.

Last but not least, AIS is also looking at partnering with the companies to develop integrated solutions for Thai customers.