Intel has come forth with a rallying cry of five million broadband Internet ports in Thailand by 2010 and has urged the Thai IT industry operators, regulators and think-tanks to join in making this vision a reality.
Speaking at the Thailand Broadband Forum 2008, jointly organized by Intel and the country's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, vice-president of the Thailand Development Research Institute Somkiat Tangkitvanich said that the importance of broadband was not so much speed, but how it enabled new things such as collaboration in education and rich media that could not conceivably be achieved with narrow-band Internet.
However, he questioned if Thailand was headed in the right direction. Statistics from the National Statistical Office which conducted 30,000 door-to-door surveys in 2005 to 2007 showed a gradual increase in the number of Internet users (from 7.1 to 8.4 to 9.3 million). However, even though 52.8 percent said they were on broadband in 2006, that figure was down to 46.2 percent in 2007.
Somkiat said that the numbers were very worrying for an industry that is supposed to be in its take-off (very high growth) phase and that the statistics showed that the Internet in Thailand was not growing.
Director of the ICT Industry Promotion Bureau at the ICT Ministry Ajin Jirachiefpattana spoke of the second ICT master plan that covers 2009 to 2013, and how ICT was no longer about technology, but a part of national infrastructure similar to roads and electricity.
One key area of focus is human resource development and to make everyone aware of the potential and dangers of ICT from an early age, the same way children are taught that roads are dangerous to cross.
He said that the third part of the plan focused on infrastructure and broadband access and that the Cabinet of Ministers had approved the ICT college program.
Intel country manager Accharas Ouysinprasert disagreed, saying that he did not see any concrete steps to promote broadband as part of the national agenda even though it might be in one part of the ICT master plan.
"MICT is a policy-maker and enabler. I see the words in the ICT master plan, but I do not see anything tangible being done to promote broadband use," he noted. "You're not telling me why I need broadband. 'Access to information' is not the right message.
"As a government, you should be creating services so that people can use them," he added, before citing the Revenue Department as a success in creating a reason for broadband use.
Broadband was about providing government services to remote villages in the middle of nowhere. It was about saving 20 percent on fuel when oil was at US$150 a barrel. It was about providing security for people who do not want to leave their homes and risk getting shot in the deep South, he said.
Accharas also asked the panel if it was right to keep expanding Bangkok at the expense of smaller cities. Graduates in the North and Northeast who studied at Chiang Mai or Khon Kaen came to Bangkok to find jobs because their home towns lacked the infrastructure for business. Accharas said that a proper broadband plan had the potential to bridge the gap in education, and create jobs.
"Broadband is about city building. It is about building society," he pointed out.
Deputy secretary-general of the National Telecommunications Commission Pitayapol Chantanasaro said that current fixed line operators were suffering financially. TT&T was in the red by over one billion baht (US$29 million) and the idea of rolling out more copper for ADSL did not add up in today's economic climate, he added.
Each fixed line costs about 10,000 baht (US$290), plus around 20 billion for a core network. That works out at 50 billion for the extra three million ports that Intel was calling for.
Accharas interrupted him, saying that it was not the NTC's role to worry about the private sector's finances.
"You should give them the license, the spectrum. All the companies you mentioned have been pleading for licenses and spectrum, yet you are saying you are afraid they do not have the money to implement it. That is not the role of the NTC," he said.
Paisarn Kaewyana, vice-president for marketing and sales at TT&T, said that it was true that TTT was not TT&T and the new broadband company was born out of the restructuring process. That said, his company wanted licenses and wanted to roll out more broadband.
"We want to have millions of users so that the infrastructure, the applications and the hosting can follow," he said.
Another major cost is Internet access--it's not just the cost of the line. Thailand has to depend extensively on foreign content, so unless there is more local content, Internet access here will always will be expensive.
General manager for broadband Internet at True Non Ingkutanon said that investment was not a problem and management, even today, was happy to invest or even raise new funds if the business case was right.
The problem was access, he noted. In Bangkok, 90 percent of households have a telephone line, but once outside of major cities, that number falls to just 25 percent. He said that around 70 percent of the estimated 10,000 baht (US$290) per port comes from the actual cost of the copper wire and the labour needed to install the wire. Then there is the delay in getting permission to access premises. Wireless, be it 3G or WiMAX, can help cut the cost of access immensely.
"Intel has a vision. A rallying cry. Every country in the region except one has a rallying cry for its vision of IT, and I will let you guess which one that is. If we, the IT industry, do not have a common goal to aim for, then there is no point," Accharas said.
"But we do have a target," Ajin responded. The second ICT master plan has set targets for 70 percent of people and 40 percent of business to be able to use ICT; to grow the digital content market to 165 billion baht (US$4.8 billiob) a year, half of which is domestically produced; 50 percent of businesses connected and 20 percent of small businesses; and for e-commerce to make up 2 percent of the economy.
Dr Somkiat said that the telecommunications sector is a driver for industry. Lack of it is stifling investment. He also remarked that the NTC "does not seem to be interested in making the industry grow".
The cost of broadband in Thailand was also prohibitively expensive, he said, observing that one measure was the cost for each 100Kbps of bandwidth per month's average wage. In Thailand, that number was 11. Or for each 100 baht (US$3) earned, 11 baht (US$0.30) was spent per 100Kbps of Internet access, Dr Somkiat said.
The OECD average is two. In Singapore and Taiwan, the figures are closer to 0.01.
"The NTC should be focusing on whether there is enough competition in the market, rather than being worried about the wallets of TT&T and True," he said.
Somkiat also criticized the NTC's mishandling of the interconnection charge regime. The TDRI has called for an IC fee of 0.27 baht (US$0.01) but the NTC allowed a figure as high as one baht (US$0.03) and has warned that such a high fee will stifle industry competition.
"The only thing the NTC is good at is giving out licenses, but then again, you get paid for each license," he said, rhetorically.
The TDRI calls for at least two of the new WiMAX and 3G licenses each to be given to new entrants, otherwise the incumbents will have no incentive to cut prices. Rather than use 3G for new businesses and regions, they will use 3G only for current 2G areas to escape the 30 percent concession fee they have to pay under the current concession agreement.
Faced with such criticism, Pitayapol said that the picture for 3G would become clearer in the first half of 2009 and WiMAX in the latter half. He also began to say that the NTC had decided that none of the operators would do anything at a loss so it was a problem to expand with the current situation affecting jobs and work.
Another round of objections quickly ensued on the vagueness of the statement, given that the NTC deputy secretary-general had said that he was not at the forum representing the NTC but rather attending in a personal capacity.
Accharas said that the indecision of the NTC has previously harmed Thai industry, making it impossible for notebook makers to import units with 5GHz WiFi. It took a year of negotiating with the NTC before WiFi A devices were allowed into the country, this is despite the portion of the 5GHz used by WiFi being an ITU unlicensed band. During that year, all notebooks in Thailand had to use an older, more expensive wireless Centrino component.
"NTC is an autonomous body, but along with independence, autonomy should also mean flexibility," he said, adding that there is no reason why the licensing for 3G and WiMAX should not happen at the same time, as the technologies, frequencies and target markets were different.
The Intel country manager also said that most countries in the region place emphasis on rolling-out wireless data networks, not voice, as a key priority as it had a direct impact on business productivity.
Asked about the NTC's plan for 4G LTE networks in light of the fact that 4G trials are due to start imminently in Japan and that some analysts have suggested skipping 3G and going straight to 4G at this late stage in the game, Pitayapol said flatly that the NTC did not have any 4G plan yet.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.