Kingdom seen as leader in Asia in building telecom infrastructure

It said at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok last week that over the past five years, Asia had added 1.5 billion mobile subscribers, and 37 million fixed-broadband subscribers. Yet more than 25 per cent of Asians live without basic mobile services. Over the next five years governments and business will need to add another 1.3 million mobile subscribers to bridge the gap. What is more, the networks will need to support high-bandwidth services such as video and a growing urban population. 

Urbanisation in much of Asia is increasing at an unprecedented speed – manifested by the largest mass migration in human history, which in turn is straining infrastructure, social services, schools and the environment. National broadband initiatives are required to support urban growth and connect rural locations to the global economy. 

Many Asian governments understand the needs. Asia and the Pacific are home to 12 national broadband projects. They aim to make affordable high-speed broadband and wireless services universally accessible for people to compete and survive in a global economy. 

The extent of those projects varies. While Singapore and Malaysia are already providing world-class telecom services, a huge infrastructure gap exists between them and such nations as Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. In Myanmar, for example, only 1.3 per cent of the population currently subscribes to mobile voice services, compared with 80 per cent in neighbouring Laos. In Thailand and Malaysia, subscription ratios are higher than 1:1, at 111 per cent and 127 per cent respectively. 

“A policy that combines application strategy, network infrastructure, and affordable business models will provide 36 per cent more GDP growth than a network-only approach. To bridge the infrastructure gaps in Asian nations, smarter planning and cross-sector collaboration are needed,” said Rajeev Singh-Molares, president of the Asia-Pacific region for Alcatel-Lucent.

He added: “Digital infrastructure is an imperative for nations that want to compete in the digital economy. Thailand is a good example of a country that understands this.” 

The Thai government has a $2.6-billion “Smart Thailand” strategy. The strategy combines a network build with a push to convert all 800 or so government services on to digital platforms and make the Kingdom’s cities and provinces smarter. 

The network build is ambitious. It aims to increase the number of Thais connected to a network from 33 per cent today to 95 per cent by 2020. Alcatel-Lucent says it believes initiatives like Thailand’s are important to bridging the infrastructure gap that divides developed and developing nations in Asia.