Thailand's Internet penetration has been described as "embarrassing" and the country's regulators have been warned that wireless broadband is urgently needed if it wants to bring access to the majority of the people.
Speaking to the media following a seminar involving operators, the GSM Association (GSMA) and government and regulatory officials recently, DTAC CEO Sigve Brekke said that 3G could make up for a lack of fixed-line infrastructure.
"It's overdue. It's almost a little bit embarrassing that Thailand has only 13 percent Internet penetration. The only way the masses can get access to the Internet is through wireless," Brekke said. "The market and demand is there and operators are more than ready. I urge the government to speed up and I don't understand why it's so difficult."
He claimed that by 2010-2011, the Internet penetration could be brought up to 50 percent if wireless licenses were granted early next year.
Brekke also compared Thailand with other countries in the region such as Singapore and suggested that 3G/HSPA would be used more as a substitute for fixed line broadband because of the lack of copper infrastructure. "Thailand is different because you will never get people covered through fixed technology alone. That's what the government should be aware of. The game is different, we're not talking about access to services but access to the Internet."
Wireless is the only way
Ricardo Tavares, senior vice president for public policy, GSMA, contrasted the low Internet penetration with Thailand's 82 percent mobile penetration, which he said was at the top for a developing country. However, for the country's 61 million people there are only around 6 to 9 million PCs and less than one million broadband users.
"There's not enough broadband supply, so that's the role we see for wireless broadband," Tavares said. He also noted that HSPA chipsets would appear in computers next year, countering any advantage that WiMax boasts because of Intel's plans to put WiMax in chipsets, while he said that HSPA could offer speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps by that time.
The GSMA expects there to be 50 million computers connected to the Internet via HSPA by the end of 2008, while at the same time only 4 million computers will be connected via WiMax. "WiMax is not a mass market technology, it's going to be a niche. I think WiMax has been oversold in terms of its capabilities," Tavares said.
However, both DTAC and AIS noted at the media conference that WiMax could also be in their plans, although more as a fixed technology rather than mobile. "We will apply for all of these types of licenses," said Brekke, noting that WiMax could be used as a fixed broadband connection to corporates and large apartment buildings, while HSPA would be more for the mass market.
3G timeline
DTAC and AIS both also called on the regulator to provide some certainty in terms of 3G licensing, saying that the mobile sector was ready to roll out new infrastructure.
"I want a committed date," said Sigve Brekke. "I want the government to say that by this date you get the license and I hope that date will be before Aug 1 2008. As soon as we get this date then we can start planning."
"If licensing would come, existing operators would roll 3G out in a few months," added Pratthana Leelapanang, assistant vice president, wireless service marketing, AIS, who said it was only the government that was not ready. "We're more than ready to invest in 3G. We've been aggressively investing in 2G for 10 years but we've also been reserving funding for 3G," he explained.
The GSMA's Tavares was optimistic that commercial 3G services would be rolled out before the end of 2008. "From the seminar, we all understood that there are challenges but there is also a sense of urgency that you could see," he said.
The GSMA has proposed a timeline that would see a public consultation period in the first quarter of 2008, followed by the issuing of licenses as early as June. If that were to happen, he said the third quarter would see operators rolling out 3G infrastructure and commercial service by the end of the year.
Tavares made a contrast between Thailand's performance in the just-concluded SEA Games and its performance in mobile broadband. While it easily topped the medal count at the games, when it comes to 3G it is languishing at the bottom of the table, with only Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam yet to introduce 3G.
"Mobile broadband will be of great benefit to increase the penetration of PCs and give handsets new services, providing encouragement to Thai content developers. Thailand is going to be starting a little later in the game, but it can still win it," Tavares claimed.
Meanwhile, the DTAC CEO also warned the government against being too greedy when it comes to setting licensing fees. He suggested that a "beauty contest" would be the best option and said that no more than three licenses (not including the 2.1GHz license already held by the TOT/CAT joint venture Thai Mobile) should be issued.
"I would urge the government not to maximize the price. It's so tempting but what happens if it is too pricey? Operators will limit the rollout and we will have higher tariffs. I strongly urge a beauty contest with attached service conditions," Brekke said. "We are going to take an aggressive stance if and when we get a license, so we are going to rollout wherever possible."Brekke also introduced an alternative plan for DTAC--and a warning to the government--by suggesting that the company did not actually need a license for 3G, rather what it needed was a license to operate in the 2.1GHz frequency. "If the NTC decides not to issue a license, we can do 3G on our existing frequency," he explained.
He pointed to operators such as Australia's Telstra that have introduced 3G on lower frequency bands and said that this would also be possible in Thailand now that vendors have the required infrastructure.
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