International Journal of Management (IJM)

Volume 7, Issue 3, March-April 2016, pp. 109119, Article ID: IJM_07_03_011

Available online at
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ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
IAEME Publication

ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

INFLUENCING NATIONAL BROADBAND
DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF
THAILAND
Ninlawan Petcharaburanin, Settapong Malisuwan and Dithdanai Milindavanij
National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Thailand
ABSTRACT
Thailand's higher demand for broadband services come from a shift
towards "on-the-go" and "always-on" lifestyles, which includes the viewing
and sharing of online videos that requires larger and faster data
communication. Broadband will continue to provide a positive driver for
infrastructure developers and other value-added markets, such as application
and content developers. The technology transition from 3G to 4G and
subsequent intensified data use in Thailand will require large scale network
investment that will benefit installation service providers and suppliers. To
understand the evolutionary changes in broadband technology and services in
Thailand, this research aims to analyze the environment influencing national
broadband development. Qualitative research method is adopted where a
variety of credible secondary sources are applied in this research focusing on
evidence-based approach. Needs for broadband and applications in Thailand
are also analyzed and discussed in this paper.
Key word: Broadband, Internet, Development, Analysis, Thailand
Cite this Article: Ninlawan Petcharaburanin, Settapong Malisuwan and
Dithdanai Milindavanij, Analysis of The Environment Influencing National
Broadband development: A Case Study of Thailand. International Journal of
Management, 7(3), 2016, pp. 109119.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=7&IType=3

1. INTRODUCTION
The world today is in the age when technological diversity plays a role in all aspects
of everyday life, ranging from listening to the radio and using fluorescence
technologies to help treat diseases to using mobile phones for several particular
purposes: taking photos or receiving and sending emails. The study on Global
Technology Revolution, 2020: Technology Trends and Cross-Country Variation
conducted by RAND Corporation [1] reveals that technological development trends in
the current period up to 2019 will emphasize on the integrated development in

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Ninlawan Petcharaburanin, Settapong Malisuwan and Dithdanai Milindavanij

relation to several branches of science so as to bring about the technology

convergence, which will cause wide-ranging impacts on the society and comprise
various technologies, basically requiring broadband, for example: 1) Cheap solar
energy, 2) Rural wireless communications, 3) Communication devices for ubiquitous
products and individuals information access anywhere, anytime, 4) Genetically
modified (GM) crops, 5) Rapid bioassays, 6) Filters and catalysts for water
purification methods, 7) Targeted drug delivery, 8) Cheap autonomous housing, 9)
Green manufacturing, 10) Ubiquitous RFID tagging of commercial, 11) Hybrid
vehicles, 12) Pervasive sensors, 13) Tissue engineering, 14) Improved diagnostic and
surgical, 15) Wearable computers and 16) Quantum cryptography.
The aforementioned application technologies are diversified and vary in terms of
technical feasibility and utilization feasibility. Table 1 illustrates the diversity in such
technologies in the matrix form which compares technical feasibility and utilization
feasibility among 56 application technologies [1]. Here, technical feasibility refers to
the possibility of having applications available for setting up businesses and
generating incomes by 2020, whereas utilization feasibility refers to all other
supporting factors and barriers which are non-technical, e.g. market needs, costs,
infrastructures, policies, and governance regulations. In this regard, a concise
qualitative evaluation concerning the size of application market will be carried out in
2020 along with the evaluation to identify whether it affects the raising of public
policy issues. From the diagram below, the numbers in parentheses represent the
numbers of segments which are influenced by technology, where G standing for
Global Level and M standing for Moderated Level represent the evaluation results
(based on academic prediction and joint consultation among regional specialists),
which identify whether the technological application will gain widespread recognition
at the global level by 2020, or only at a moderate level (in this case, it will be limited
by the market, business sector, country or region) as presented in Table 1.
Table 1 Technical Feasibility and utilization feasibility
Utilization Feasibility
Technical
Feasibility

Niche Market
(- -)

May meet the

needs of large and
medium-sized
markets, but have
effects on the
creation of public
policy issues

Meet the needs of

medium-sized market
that are numerous and
have no effect on the
creation of public policy
issues

Meet the needs of

large-sized markets
that are numerous
and have no effect on
the creation of
public policy issues

(+)

(+ +)

(-)
Highly
Feasible

CBRN Sensor on
ERT (2,G)

((+ +)

Genetic Screening
(2,G)

Targeted Drug Delivery

(5,M)

Hybrid Vehicles
(2,G)

GM Crops (6,M)

Ubiquitous Information
Access (5,M)

Internet [for
purposes of
comparison] (7,G)

Pervasive Sensors
(4,G)

Ubiquitous RFID Tagging

(4,G)

Rapid Bioassays
(4,G)
Rural Wireless
Comm (7,G)

Feasible
(+)

GM Animals for
R&D (2,M)
Unconventional
transport (5,M)

Implants for
tracking and ID
(3,M)

Cheap Solar Energy

(10,M)

Xenotransplantatio
n (1,M)

Drug Development from

Screening (2,M)
Filters and Catalysts
(7,M)

Improved Diagnostic
and Surgical Method
(2,G)
Quantum
Cryptography (2,G)

Green Manufacturing
(6,M)

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Analysis of The Environment Influencing National Broadband development: A Case Study of

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Utilization Feasibility
Technical
Feasibility

Niche Market
(- -)

May meet the

needs of large and
medium-sized
markets, but have
effects on the
creation of public
policy issues

Meet the needs of

medium-sized market
that are numerous and
have no effect on the
creation of public policy
issues

Meet the needs of

large-sized markets
that are numerous
and have no effect on
the creation of
public policy issues

(+)

(+ +)

(-)
Monitoring and Control
for Disease Management
(2,M)
Smart System (1,M)
Tissue Engineering (4,M)
Uncertain
(U)

Commercial UAVs
(6,M)

Biometrics as sole
ID (3,M)

Enhanced Medical
Recovery (3,M)

Electronic
Transactions (2,G)

Hi-Tech Tourism
(3,M)

CBRN Sensor
Network in Cities
(4,M)

Immunotherapy (2,M)

Handsfree
Computer Interface
(2,G)

Gene Insects (5,M)

Smart Textiles (4,M)

Military
Nanotechnologies
(2,G)
Military Robotics
(2,G)

Hospital Robotics
(2,M)
Secure Video
Monitoring (3,M)

Improved Treatments
from Data Analysis (2,M)
Wearable Computers
(5,M)

(-)

MemoryEnhancing Drugs
(3,M)

Chip Implants for

Brain (4,M)

Resistant Textiles
(2,G)
Secure Data Transfer
(2,M)

Therapies based on
Stem Cell R&D
(5,M)
Hardly
Feasible

In-silico drug R&D

(2,G)

Drugs Tailored to
Genetics (2,M)

Cheap Autonomous
Housing (6,G)
Print-to-Order-Books
(2,G)

Robotic Scientist
(1,M)
Super Soldier
(2,M)
Very Hardly
Feasible
(- -)

Proxy-bot (3,M)
Quantum
Computers (3,M)

Genetic Selection
of Offspring (2,M)

Artificial Muscles and

Tissues (2,M)

Hydrogen Vehicles
(2,G)

Remark: For the technologies in each country, the information in parentheses

identify that there are 12 sectors (irrigation, food, land, population, management of
social structure, energy, public health, development in economy, education,
prevention and conflict, pollution and the environment which may be affected by
technologies. The adaptive application will be at the global level (G) or moderate
level (M), for example, hybrid vehicles have impacts on 2 sectors, at the global level.
Source: Global Technology Revolution 2020: Technology Trends and Cross-Country
Variation (2006)

When taking into consideration the future trends in application technologies and
application feasibility, it is found that the technologies that tend to be highly
developed and are applicable include hybrid vehicles, the Internet, fast bio-analytical
methods in science, and wireless communication in remote areas. This points out that
future needs are made up from the convergence of various aspects of desire, not
restricted for only a particular technology.
Furthermore, when making an overall analysis, it can be seen that the countries
being capable of putting technologies into application are required to analyze the 2
significant factors: competency in technological penetration and barriers to
technological penetration, i.e. costs and monetary matters, laws and policies, social
values, public opinions, political affairs, infrastructures, consideration of privacy,
consumption of resources and the environment, research and development

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investments, education and learning, population and population density in an area,

management and stability [1].
The RAND Corporation, a non-profit research organization, conducted the study
on capacity of 29 countries for developing 16 types of future technology as well as
analyzed the drivers of implementing technology applications and another 10 factors
giving barriers to implementing technology applications in 29 countries through
percentage calculation. From Figure 1, the statuses of such countries are shown,
where the axis Y represents the calculation results of capacity to acquire TA
multiplied by the driver starting at 0, and the axis X represents the calculation
results of barriers starting at 100 as presented in the diagram below.

Figure 1 Capacity of Countries to Implement Technology Applications

Source: Global Technology Revolution 2020: Technology Trends and Cross-Country
Variation (2006)

The upper right-hand corner (blue) shows the countries implementing technology
applications which are significantly driven by capacity for science and advanced
technology, and have several drivers but a few barriers. As for the countries in the
upper left-hand corner (green), they are the countries which implement technology
applications, significantly driven by capacity for science and advanced technology,
but still have a lot of barriers. The lower right-hand corner (yellow) shows the
countries which implement technology applications at a certain advanced level, but
have quite small capacity for science and advanced technology and very few drivers
and barriers. As for the countries in the lower left-hand corner (red), they are the
countries which implement technology applications but lack capacity for science and
advanced technology, and have more barriers than drivers.

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Analysis of The Environment Influencing National Broadband development: A Case Study of

Thailand

Regarding broadband development, it can be said that Internet users worldwide

have currently held on to common culture. The survey result of Ericsson Consumer
Lab conducted in 23 countries worldwide reveals that three fourth of all consumers
use the Internet, and half of this amount use social media every day.
There are patterns of social media usage formed which are common worldwide. It
is found from the Survey on Behaviors and Attitudes of Consumers Regarding Social
Media Use in 2011 that 83 percent of consumers watched TV through the
broadcasting system at least 2 times a week, and 61 percent of consumers watch TV
through on-demand websites. However, the consumers have modified their behaviors
by turning to use on-demand content services which can be easily accessed by
telecommunications devices in every system everywhere and every time [2].
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have suggested that, in
order to draw up the National Broadband Plan, demand and supply have to be taken
into consideration. Firstly, it must begin with considering the supply of service
providers separately, ranging from supply of connections between countries, supply of
connections within the country, and supply of connections in urban areas, respectively
[3]. The thing that the regulatory sectors can bring about is competition in the
telecommunications business. As for the demand, it can be created by raising
awareness, followed by making it more easily accessible and cheap. However, it may
be extremely challenging, which can be solve by intensifying the composition so as to
result in low prices, making the utilization more attractive by demands: what the
consumption behaviors are and how deep the knowledge about utilizing the
population has.
Anyhow, in order to examine the efficiency of broadband, it should be considered
from the amount of population coverage, the number of Internet connections, quality
of services, latency, including service charges. The amount of Internet usage by an
individual user is about 15 GB on average (2015) and will double to 30 GB in the
next 5 years. Therefore, there must be the preparation made to support around 45 GB
data consumption in the future.
Furthermore, it is found that Asia is ranked first in Internet usage among regions
due to the largest population, but its rate of broadband service penetration is below
average. Therefore, the number of users is not the only factor to be considered.
Besides, the rising rate of broadband usage at 10 percent also increases the Gross
Domestic Product by 1.4 percent. This indicates that broadband is vital for economic
growth [4].
In short, development trends for telecommunications services worldwide have
taken a quantum leap after 3G and 4G were first used in 2000 and 2010, respectively.
By 2020, there will be 5G on service at the speed of 10 Gbps. At present, Quadruple
Play which comprises the Internet, television, fixed telephony, and mobile phone
services provided through Internet networks. Some examples of the service providers
using such services is NNT, a Japanese company providing broadband connection
through the Fiber To The x (FTTx) for households and various kinds of buildings,
which has the highest number of users throughout the world. It provides several
aspects of services: entertainment, telephone, television, education, etc [5].

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Ninlawan Petcharaburanin, Settapong Malisuwan and Dithdanai Milindavanij

2. ANALYSIS OF THE ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCING

BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT IN THAILAND
The government of Thailand made a statement to the National Legislative Assembly
concerning the policy Item 6.18 [6] which specifies that the cabinet imposes
promotion of the digital economy and the laying down of foundations of the digital
economy to start propelling at full scale, affecting every economic sector to keep up
with the current trend and be able to compete in the modern world. This directly
includes the manufacturing and trading of digital products, and the implementation of
digital in supporting services of the financial business and other service businesses,
especially the communication and entertainment sectors. This includes the
implementation of digital to support manufacturing of industrial goods and
developing of the creative economy. The foundations of the digital economy play a
role in implementing ICT as a major mechanism in propelling the economic growth
and taking a quantum leap in improving the quality of life of the population, when the
suitable environment can be created. It comprises important compositions as follows:
1. Hard Infrastructure comprises promotion of digital products and infrastructure of
networks and spectrum allocated through various telecommunications means.
2. Soft Infrastructures comprises the study of the infrastructures that facilitate the digital
economy development to be convenient, stable, and safe, for example, matters
concerning laws, standards, and security of ICT and its systems.
3. Service Infrastructure comprises the development in infrastructures for electronic
transactions, e-commerce, and e-government.
4. Digital Economy Promotion comprises promotion of the digital economy
development by using various supporting mechanisms, such as researching,
knowledge instilling, alliance building, and motivation generating to stimulate
demands for developing the digital economy.
5. Digital Society comprises creation of the social environment, reduction of digital
inequality in society, development of immunity to new threats resulted from
technologies.

From the aforementioned policies and important compositions, they obviously

encourage broadband development, which is part of the hard infrastructure, to be
undergone within a very short period of time. The empirical evidence in broadband
development is the way that the cabinet reached the conclusion, on January 6, 2015,
to approve 8 issues of Digital Economy Bill concurrently and delivered them to the
Judicial Council for being examined and considered. The aforementioned 8 Acts are
as follows:
Electronic Transactions Bill (No), B.E.
Computer-Related Offences Commission Bill (No), B.E.
Cyber Safety and Security Bill, B.E.
Personal Information Protection Bill, B.E.
Digital Economy Promotion Bill, B.E....
Fund Developing the Social and Economic Digital Bill, B.E.
Organization to Assign Radio Frequency and to Regulate the Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Services Bill, B.E....
8. Drafted Royal Decree of Establishing Electronic Transactions Development Agency
(Public Organization), B.E.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

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Analysis of The Environment Influencing National Broadband development: A Case Study of

Thailand

From the above information, it can be concluded that such execution of the
government can promote positive factors to be necessary for making the National
Broadband Strategy concrete as soon as possible.

3. ANALYSIS OF NEEDS FOR BROADBAND AND

APPLICATIONS IN THAILAND
It is commonly known that broadband development in Thailand is a far cry from those
of the aforementioned countries and cannot be comparable, especially in the aspect of
broadband infrastructure coverage, since the operators generally make such
investment only in major cities and the vicinity. However, like other countries
worldwide, the need for broadband consumption in Thailand is continuously
increasing, with approximately 18 million current subscribers. Thailand is considered
the country where social media connections are extraordinarily popular, but the
specialists still cannot specify the factor driving such social media addictive
behaviors. In this regard, it is believed that the populations that differ in age will have
different Internet consumption behaviors.
From the estimation for the current condition of broadband service through fixed
networks at the household level in the first quarter of 2014, it is found that the rate of
fixed broadband household penetration in Thailand stands at only 27 percent.
Furthermore, when considering the rate of fixed broadband penetration in comparison
to the rate of mobile phone, it will be generally found that if the Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL) is used for fixed broadband, the growth rate of fixed telephony will be
increased in the same fashion. However, the DSL capacity for broadband support is
nearly full and cannot be expandable. Therefore, most of the new licensed operators
turn to expand their networks through fiber optic lines and cables. Nevertheless, the
NBTC expects a greater number of subscribers, and activates the market mechanism
which reduces service prices to attract more subscribers. There are 3 major service
providers in the current telecommunications market: 1) The state enterprises or TOT
Public Company Limited, 2) True Corporation, and 3) Triple T Broadband (3BB).
The three service providers hold almost the same amount of market share, but there
are a lot of minor service providers which take only 4 percent of the overall market
share [7].
When considering the rate of fixed broadband penetration regionally, it is found
that, from 27 percent, Bangkok stands a higher chance of broadband penetration than
other regions. This does not mean that they have sluggish demands for Internet
access, but it might be due to the lack of network for Internet connection which the
NBTC interprets as Digital Dividend. Moreover, it is found from the survey result of
the National Statistical Office that most of the technologies used for broadband access
in each region is usually fixed, whereas the use of mobile broadband services tends to
increase and the narrow band is still slightly used in the continuously decreasing
proportion.
In addition, it is found from the study on broadband consumption in the business
sector, surveyed by the National Statistical Office during the end of 2013, that there is
only 20 percent of the household with Internet penetration. If separately considering
each of the industries, the industries with the highest rates of Internet penetration are
hospital and ICT industries, followed by construction, retailing, and service industries.
The aforementioned industries use fixed broadband as xDSL as the main technology,
including Leased Line technology which is a type of Internet services provided at a
constant speed and has high security [8].

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In providing broadband services, Thailands leading operators have attempted to

research into the business model that can respond to such changes, for example, the
amount of daily broadband consumption by users is approximately 4 hours per day,
where smartphones are extremely widespread.
The consumption behaviors and overwhelming needs for Internet consumption
among consumers at the present time results in overcrowded bandwidth, making data
transmission and reception become ineffective and delayed. Such overcrowded
bandwidth causes a lot of problems in Thailands telecommunications industry.
Nonetheless, telecommunications operators and related state sectors are attempting to
handle such problems by developing new innovations such as Fiber to the Home
(FTTH) which originates the development in LTE and LTE Advanced.
What in parallel with current utilization of broadband is utilization of applications
which have been created for more than 3 billion in number recently. This has never
been happened previously and is different from the past when only easy-to-use and
low-priced programs, such as ringtones and wallpaper downloaders were used before
eventually going out of fashion. In this regard, there has never been any agency able
to track or examine such applications. We can only know the types of applications, for
example, applications concerning social media, content, video or location positioning,
etc. Also, we can classify them in groups and analyze to find out the ones that are
most investment attractive.
The study reveals that Thailands telecommunications market in 2015 tends to
grow at the higher level than that in 2013, and may further expand in the future. This
can be seen from ICT expenses, data consumption, strategic planning of leading
operators, roles of marketing executives in technology, security systems on mobile
telecommunications devices, utilization of brand-new technology like Internet of
Things, review of Big Data utilization, and guidelines for cost reduction of Thailands
financial institutions, including the enthusiasm of the public sector for creating the
digital economy [9].
Furthermore, it is also found that there are 5 technological phenomena and
marketing business models that mainly promote the growth in telecommunications
markets: communication services, cloud business services, Internet of Things
concepts, e-trading platforms in the form of social commerce and social business
which are the new trends for online trading business operation, and wearable devices
which are the new lots of ICT products in Thailand.
What have been mentioned previously is considered the trends for ICT utilization
in which broadband has taken a significant role. However, the need for broadband
consumption is not only limited at the individual level, instead it covers the
organizational level, both the public and private sectors. From interviewing and earing
opinions from several sectors related to Internet service consumption and provision, it
is found that Thailand currently has a lot of limitations which give barriers to
broadband development, where service consumers who desire to use the Internet can
be classified into 3 major groups: individuals, the business sector, and the public
sector. Each of the groups has to face different problems and barriers as follows:

3.1. Needs for Internet Utilization at the Individual Level

This group of Internet users group views that Internet services are in the limited
amount and inadequate owing to barriers in terms of living areas. For example,
barriers in terms of a limited boundary of network penetration and broadband service
coverage, especially the wired network which still lacks plan for expanding network
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Analysis of The Environment Influencing National Broadband development: A Case Study of

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coverage through the use of fiber optic cables due to cost-ineffective investment in
some areas, even in big cities. Moreover, general users also face the problem of
telephone line rental which is very high compared with the proportion of revenues.
According to the latest information of the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) collected in 2014, it is found that the rate of Thailands broadband service can
be calculated at 5.02 percent per Gross National Income, and is ranked 98th out of
165 countries worldwide.10
Further than that, the limited ICT knowledge among the populations,
undereducated consumers, promotion to make the public realize in the benefits to be
gained through broadband, enhancement of broadband knowledge and digital literacy,
and competency in accessing various services are considered the significant factors
increasing the amount of Internet utilization and stimulating the populations to use the
services continually and sustainably. The increasing utilization needs will positively
affect the supply of broadband systems and lead to greater consumption needs,
creating the cycle of endless results. Regarding the lack of public service provision,
including the creativity and application of local contents, it is necessary that the
development and creation of local contents must be stimulated other than equipping
the consumers with the knowledge of the benefits to be gained from broadband
systems. However, there are some limitations in terms of developing specific local
contents and services currently found in Thailand as follows:

The contents in Thai and translation software are not widespread. This gives barriers
to consumption.
The education, public health, and e-government systems are the most important
factors stimulating broadband consumption. However, the public sector still
inadequately promotes the role in developing distance learning, telemedicine, and egovernment.
At present, copyright laws still do not stimulate creativity and distribution of
advanced contents to support services.
At present, electronic commerce laws strongly focus on crime prevention activities
instead of promoting online businesses to be more effective.

3.2 Needs for Internet Consumption of the Business Sector

The business sector is considered the mainspring influencing the economy. The
development of broadband to be effective and cover all areas of the country will
reduce costs of production and service provision among operators. Moreover, it also
enhances the competitiveness of medium and small-sized operators (SMEs),
especially those in the province, since they can use the Internet as the medium for
developing supply chain systems and service provision systems to be more effective.
The common direct problems and barriers to business operation are as follows:

The rate of fixed broadband penetration is low, but the rate of broadband services is
extremely high. Besides, some regulations and criteria are still considered barriers to
economic growth.

Operators of medium and small-sized businesses lack knowledge, understanding, and

basic proficiency in ICT, including the understanding of broadband benefits.
Consumption of broadband among medium and small-sized businesses will help
maintain the competitive status of such businesses in the national society and will
increase productivity and effectiveness of organizations. However, the use of
broadband in this sector is still restricted by the lack of proficiency in ICT and
knowledge about broadband benefits, posing the risk to broadband investment in

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terms of technological opportunity loss because the related sectors lack benefit
perception or the directions given in advance.
The quality of broadband services is not perfect enough to supply the consumption
needs of medium and small-sized businesses. At the business level, broadband can
increase the effectiveness of production of current businesses, for example, it enables
high-speed big data sharing, communicating, efficient person-to-person video
conferencing or distance meeting which requires a lot of bandwidth. However, there
are some problems concerning network quality frequently found, which result in
confidence in business operation, the problems concerning network quality, and
uncertainty about whether the amount of bandwidth is adequate for consumption or
not.
There are some problems about personnel development, shortage of personnel, and
below-standard education. Like general users, there are some problems about
personnel found in the business sector, but in the aspect of shortage of personnel with
ICT and advanced communications technology competencies. Development of such
personnel can lead to further development in new innovations.

3.3. Needs for Internet Consumption of the Public Sector

The public sector places importance on developing and utilizing ICT for egovernment, especially the government agencies which provide services for the
population. The business sector has to accelerate the development through
implementing ICT to increase the efficiency in services to become concrete rapidly,
correctly, accurately, stylishly, and transparently so as to enable the population to
access ICTs and government services thoroughly and equally. In the meantime, ICT
should be used in reforming government organization management systems to meet
the aim of quality and effective services. Nevertheless, utilization of broadband in the
public sector is limited, unorganized, and restricted in terms of usage security because
Thailand has still lacked personal data protection laws.

4. CONCLUSION
Internet use in Thailand has risen at the highest rate in the world, from the latest
global study conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). In the
Measuring the Information Society Report 2015, the country now ranks 74th out of
167 countries in the IDI thanks to fast and effective ICT development, with the most
dynamic improvements in the rankings from 2010-15. Thailand was ranked 92nd in the
IDI in 2010, rising to 81st in 2014.
At least 80% of Thais will be able to access fourth-generation (4G) wireless
broadband service by 2017, given the network coverage requirements set by the
national telecom regulator and aggressive network roll-outs by mobile operators.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has set
a goal of creating a mobile economy to present companies with massive opportunities
and a competitive advantage improving productivity, driving innovation and
increasing sales.
The NBTC aims to lift Thailand's ranking on the global ICT Development Index
(IDI) to be a leader in ASEAN by 2020, up from fourth in the region now.
Development of 4G network infrastructure nationwide would be the crucial
determinant in the country's IDI ranking. Thailand's ranking has risen aggressively
since 2012, when a 3G network on the 2100-megahertz spectrum was deployed.
Thailand is seeing the fastest-paced ICT development in Asia-Pacific. The NBTC
has outlined seven measures under a two-year roadmap to achieve its goal -- ensuring

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Analysis of The Environment Influencing National Broadband development: A Case Study of

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mobile operators roll out 4G infrastructure across the country; cooperating with public
and private telecom operators to provide affordable tariffs for mobile broadband
access; encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt 3G and 4G
technologies to enhance their competitiveness; supporting the underprivileged and the
handicapped in accessing affordable wireless broadband service; encouraging
establishment of telecommunications infrastructure funds to reduce investment
redundancies and lower network service fees; removing barriers to mobile financial
services and promoting mobile banking services; and promoting greater investment
for fixed-line broadband infrastructure to expand network coverage into rural areas.

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