PHUKET is to gain a new English-language weekly newspaper from March 4, the entrepreneur funding the publishing operation said today.

The newspaper has the title 'The Phuket News' and will sell for a cover price that will be disclosed on launch, said publisher Simon Samaan. The 38-year-old Australian is a former accountant and English teacher who has been on Phuket for four years, most prominently connected with Newspapers Direct, which supplies facsimile copies of international dailies for sale.

Management of the new weekly includes Executive Editor Alasdair Forbes, former Managing Editor of the Phuket Gazette and more recently connected with the philanthropic Phuket Community Foundation of ''Great Duck Race'' fame, Managing Editor Sarah Jarvis, from Fairfax Community Newspapers in New Zealand, and General Manager Jason Beavan, who is currently filling a similar role on a monthly publication, the Phuketian.

Mr Samaan said that the Phuketian, which is a supplement to the range of facsimile international newspapers offered for sale by Newspapers Direct, will be an insert into The Phuket News once a month, beginning with the first issue.

''We are finalising our team and will move into new offices opposite Tesco Lotus, at Billion Plaza, next weekend,'' Mr Samaan said today.

Choices were still being made about the quality of the newsprint but the weekly, to be printed in Bangkok, would include local news, international news, sport and classifieds, Mr Samaan said.

''We want it to be a fun community newspaper as well, and we will be encouraging our readers to contribute,'' he said.

The newspaper will have a web site that is being tested and is scheduled to launch on February 14. It will be at the address thephuketnews.com

Mockup editions of the new newspaper will be prepared for February 18 and February 25, and future editions will be out each Friday.

''I think many people know there is a certain amount of paranoia in publishing on Phuket,'' Mr Samaan said. ''We socialise with competitors. Competition is always healthy and it helps everyone to improve.''

Mr Samaan said he thought the arrival of the new publication would be ''good for the industry and good for Phuket.''

Advertisers will be canvassed once the first mockup is produced on February 18. When asked about the scale of his investment, he said: ''A lot of money.''

Phuket's existing weekly newspaper, The Phuket Gazette, is now in its 18th year of publication. The Gazette went weekly in 2002.