Thailand On Track For ‘digital Economy’

[george]

Kingdom on track for ‘digital economy’

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has set a goal of transforming itself into a “digital economy” by 2008, but it must first strengthen itself in three areas – broadband infrastructure, Web services and content and services – says the permanent secretary for the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

Speaking to a Nation Television seminar yesterday on the digital economy, Kraisorn Pornsutee said the country needed to encourage more widespread use of broadband Internet for business and lifestyle purposes.

The ministry aims at raising the number of broadband users from 500,000 now to more than 5 million within the next two years, of which 2 million will be wireless and 3 million land-based.

“The NTC [National Telecommunications Commission] will be the key organisation in turning this policy into reality. The high cost of international bandwidths will be reduced, because the NTC will issue more licences. With more providers, the price should be cheaper and more users attracted,” said Kraisorn.

Satellite broadband is another important element in bridging the so-called digital divide and enabling people in remote areas to participate in a “broadband society”.

Patompob Suwansiri, head of marketing at Shin Satellite (ShinSat), which owns the iPSTAR broadband satellite, said that once broadband became available from iPSTAR next month, 300,000 licensed users in remote areas would have access, in addition to urban residents.

ShinSat currently serves about 25,000 subscribers with its Thaicom satellite.

“Once iPSTAR’s service is available, those users will be transferred to the new network,” said Patompob, adding that worldwide the number of broadband users is now 200 million, sharply up from only 1 million in 1999.

Manoo Ordeedolchest, president of the Software Industry Promotion Agency, said Web services were also crucial to driving a digital economy. For example, a mobile phone should be more than simply a communication device, but rather a variety of services should be available through the network.

Chanchai Phansopha, strategic director of Microsoft (Thailand), said it was estimated that by 2010 the value of Web services globally would be US$32 billion (Bt1.31 trillion) annually, while by 2009 Thailand should be generating Bt180 billion in annual revenues from Web services.

“We aren’t worried about infrastructure and Web-services technology, due to the huge progress in development that’s occurred already. What concerns us is content and services on top of the broadband network, as well as how people can benefit from Web-services technology and broadband,” said Chanchai.

The category of content and services is the third key factor in turning the digital economy into reality. The government has rolled out several initiatives, including the One Laptop Per Child project that offers low-cost laptop computers to students, and the E-Book/E-Learning Sharing programme encouraging teachers across the country to develop digital-content sharing among students.

Kraisorn said that based on the level of development achieved so far, it was believed Thailand would be able to have its new digital economy right on schedule.

--The Nation 2005-10-07

[ovenman]

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has set a goal of transforming itself into a “digital economy” by 2008, but it must first strengthen itself in three areas – broadband infrastructure, Web services and content and services – says the permanent secretary for the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

Here we go again, the hub of IT in SE Asia...

“We aren’t worried about infrastructure and Web-services technology, due to the huge progress in development that’s occurred already. What concerns us is content and services on top of the broadband network, as well as how people can benefit from Web-services technology and broadband,” said Chanchai.

They might want to get worried about 'Net infrastucture since it's something that appears to be lacking in Thailand. Ask most any ADSL user in the kingdom. I don't think this infrastructure is going to magically appear on its own. Oh, but I forget, we will all be iPSTAR users before long (who owns that company again?)

[abdulrahman]

A lot of b******t,in the province not even ADSL is available,say nothing about broadband!

[Maestro]

Kingdom on track for ‘digital economy’

BANGKOK: -- Thailand has set a goal of transforming itself into a “digital economy” by 2008, but it must first strengthen itself in three areas – broadband infrastructure, Web services and content and services – says the permanent secretary for the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.

…and not have people wait up to 5 years to get a phone line installed.

[MyNameIsFarang]

The only "digit" of note is the thumb up their collective @sses.

[phastmike]

The only "digit" of note is the thumb up their collective @sses.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

dream on...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The internet HUB OF THE WORLD

[Buff-horns]

the BB infrastructure is dire . what happened to the nationwide fibre optic network? huge sums were being spent on it. dont know if they ever finished it.

[MyNameIsFarang]

the BB infrastructure is dire . what happened to the nationwide fibre optic network? huge sums were being spent on it. dont know if they ever finished it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The point of that project was to make selected people rich. In this sense, the project was finished quite nicely.