Thai Broadband Looks Set For Massive Growth

[george]

Broadband looks set for massive growth – experts

BANGKOK: -- Information and Communication Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee predicted yesterday that there would be one million broadband Internet users in Thailand by the end the year a 4,900-per-cent jump from 20,000 last year.

Internet use will boom largely due to his policy of coaxing all Internet service providers and state telecom agencies to offer budget broadband Internet services, said Surapong, speaking at the ongoing Bangkok International Expo 2004 as a panellist on a forum on how ICT improves lifestyles.

He also said the hi-tech revolution in Thailand was set to take off as more people would own computers. He predicted that one in five people would own computers by 2008. Today the rate among primary-school students is one computer per 100 students.

In addition Thais’ lives will improve significantly in 2008 when all citizens will have smart ID cards to access state services at home via the Internet, according to Surapong.

“At that time the broadband Internet network is expected to cover the whole country to serve the data-access demands of the people,” he said.

If his expectations hold true it should also benefit Shin Corp Plc’s satellite subsidiary, which is ready to launch its broadband satellite service iPSTAR to cover a large area in Southeast Asia by the end of the year. Boonklee Plangsiri, chief executive of Shin Corp, which owns, Shin Satellite Plc, said iPStar’s technology could solve the ongoing problem of the lack of fixed-line phone services in remote areas of Thailand and other parts of Asia, which kept people from accessing the Internet. “I’m not here to sell our service, but iPStar broadband satellite can address the problem,” Boonklee said.

Another panellist, Dennis Lui, group managing director of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecom International, said government and the private sector should try to ensure that telecom service prices were made affordable to everybody.

Besides price, the sufficiency of the nation’s bandwidth network should also be guaranteed to serve growing demand, Boonklee said.

His concern with bandwidth stems from his observations of children, who log on to the Internet to chat online and download music.

Equal and easy Internet access is vital to enable people to leverage the power of information technology to improve their lives, said Will Poole, Microsoft Corp’s senior vice president of Windows Client. He said this would result in “digital inclusion”, as would the promotion of locally produced technology.

Next week the US software giant will announce the launch of the pure Thai version of its Window XP Starter Edition operating system for first-time computer-users.

--The Nation 2004-08-07

[Darlek]

Broadband looks set for massive growth – experts

BANGKOK: -- Information and Communication Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee predicted yesterday that there would be one million broadband Internet users in Thailand by the end the year a 4,900-per-cent jump from 20,000 last year.

hhmm, i wonder what all these thais will be doing online ? considering that most of the content is in english and most thais have a poor grasp of engrish ...

[Crushdepth]

In addition Thais’ lives will improve significantly in 2008 when all citizens will have smart ID cards to access state services

He really meant that the state will benefit significantly when it has access to all its citizens personal data. Everyone will be soooo much better off with the government keeping tabs on them I'm sure.

What do you think the chances are of this *not* being abused ?

[ovenman]

BANGKOK: -- Information and Communication Technology Minister Surapong Suebwonglee predicted yesterday that there would be one million broadband Internet users in Thailand by the end the year a 4,900-per-cent jump from 20,000 last year.

I suppose that a 4900 percent jump from 20,000 to one million broadband users this year (or even next year) is just slightly less absurd than the jump that will be required to turn the 500 or so Elite Cards already sold into a targeted legion of one million cardholders.

[ovenman]

In addition Thais’ lives will improve significantly in 2008 when all citizens will have smart ID cards to access state services

He really meant that the state will benefit significantly when it has access to all its citizens personal data. Everyone will be soooo much better off with the government keeping tabs on them I'm sure.

What do you think the chances are of this *not* being abused ?

An even better question, what do you think the chances are of any of this actually happening as described?

[mickmac]

I just want to know where they are going to get the infrastructure to accommodate this increase in traffic?

[ovenman]

I just want to know where they are going to get the infrastructure to accommodate this increase in traffic?

Farang think-too-mutt.

[ChiangMaiThai]

Do they understand that 'braodband' is not 100k or 150k or 500k shared with 50 users? I don't think so. If they're serious, they all need to go take a good look at Japan, South Korea and the US where 100k or 200k is NOT, I repeat NOT AT ALL considered 'high speed' or broadband.

2000 baht a month should get you an unlimited connection that never drops below 1000k.

I think so many officials here just like to talk and they don't even know what they are talking about.

Is Phuket an IT City yet? Is Chiang Mai the hub of SE Asia? Does anyone want an elite card? Maybe they should start with the small things like not putting a giant sign with a map of the city in the middle of the sidewalk AND 5 feet in the air where no one can see it. Once they learn common sense, they can try to make Thailand into this utopian superpower they're always talking about.

[Darlek]

I just want to know where they are going to get the infrastructure to accommodate this increase in traffic?

you cant even get a phone installed that easilly without waiting a few years !

so that BB connection could take just a tad longer !

[siam]

2000 baht a month should get you an unlimited connection that never drops below 1000k.

I am moving to CM in the non too distant future,Where can you get the best BB connection and are there any web sites?,

[md3v]

Hi,

From my experience - stick with TT&T based services.

The ECO-TTT 256/128 kbit package, joint TT&T+CSLoxInfo service is reliable and costs 1,610 baht a month, inc. VAT. The user-to-vlink ratio is 10:1.

The Hi-Net 2048/800 kbit package, joint TT&T+CAT service is fast (but not as reliable) and costs 1068.93 baht a month, inc. VAT. The user-to-vlink ratio is 50:1.

I use Hi-Net as my primary and ECO-TTT as a backup.

Also, as a technical note - Hi-Net does not provide a public IP address.

[Noodles]

I just want to know where they are going to get the infrastructure to accommodate this increase in traffic?

you cant even get a phone installed that easilly without waiting a few years !

so that BB connection could take just a tad longer !

When we applied for a phone line at our house,

we were told it could take anything upto a year.

My girlfriend spoke to the lady who owns all the

houses and land by us. This lady knew the manager at

TT&T.

Our application was put to the top of the pile.

We were using the internet 3 weeks later.

[marsbloke]

I've never had ADSL before so there's a lot i don't know. Can you get ADSL anywhere in Thailand, or just in bigger cities? I heard that TOT was offering high speed internet with no connection charge. Is that going to be available anywhere in the country? Would you need a phone line installed in order to get this? (I think ADSL does not use phone lines, is that correct?)

Are there any catches to the no connection charge thing? I mean, if I move every six months, I can keep getting it hooked up anew for free?

Thanks for any answers.