Phuket is catching up with Bangkok with cellphone portability. From this month five Thai mobile phone operators will provide a mobile number portability service in Phuket and four other provinces.

The Phuket Community Foundation is celebrating the success of its second annual Race Day, which raised more than B800,000 for the charity’s activities.

The Yamu, the 5-star+ hotel in Phuket that was stalled by the global financial crisis, is once more under construction, and Como of Singapore has been appointed to manage it.

Mom Tri’s Boathouse, the island’s first five-star boutique hotel, which opened 21 years ago on Kata Beach, has been sold to the owners of the luxury Trisara resort.

The eighth Phuket International Boat Show, still known by its origional initials, PIMEX, opened this morning at the Royal Phuket Marina with 86 exhibitors on the water and in the exhibition hall, a record number for the eight-year-old show. The total value of the boats on display exceeded 3 billion baht, said organisers Informa Yacht Group.

Australian teenage singer-songwriter Teischa Jones – she’s just 13 – is set to be a music star after recording tracks at the Legend Music recording studio in Boat Lagoon.

Soi Dog, the Phuket animal welfare organisation, has issued an urgent appeal for funds to battle an outbreak of canine distemper on the island.

Ray Roberts’ Evolution captured the silverware in the 24th Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, but the event will most likely be remembered for the violent weather that dumped a dozen or more boats on the beach at Kata.

The Chairman of Central Plaza Hotels Suthikiati Chirathivat – who’s also a director of Central Pattana, which owns Central Festival Phuket among other things – came to Phuket at the weekend with a couple of dozen Bangkok journalists to check out his latest creation, the 262-room 2.3-billion-baht Centara Grand Beach Resort on Karon Beach.

Iranian airline Mahan Air will begin a non-stop service from Tehran to Phuket from December 6.