ENTER THE DIGITAL WORLD
Recent 4G auctions will make 2016 a banner year for the development of a mobile economy, write Komsan Tortermvasana and Suchit Leesa-nguansuk
2016 will be a banner year for the development of a mobile economy in Thailand.
B10
Thailand’s telecommunications industry opens a new chapter with the introduction of mass-market fourthgeneration (4G) commercial services next year after the recent success of spectrum auctions.
The availability of nationwide 4G services is also expected to create an ecosystem conducive to further growth in mobile data services and to support the development of a digitally driven economy.
High-speed wireless broadband technology will also greatly enhance customers’ digital lifestyle as technological innovations constantly change the way people live, work and play.
Despite third-ranked True Move launching the first commercial 4G network in 2014, followed by secondranked Total Access Communication Plc (DTAC) this year, 4G services are available on a limited scale because of bandwidth constraints.
True Move provides 4G on 10 megahertz of bandwidth of the 2100-MHz spectrum, while DTAC operates 4G on 5 MHz of the 2100-MHz plus another 10 MHz on the 1800-MHz spectrum under a concession regime with CAT Telecom Plc.
Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS), Thailand’s largest mobile operator, plans to start its 4G commercial service by midDecember on 15 MHz of bandwidth on the 1800-MHz spectrum after it won a licence from last month’s marathon auctions for 40.98 billion baht.
True Move H Universal Communication, a subsidiary of True Corporation Plc, also won another licence on the 1800-MHz spectrum for 39.89 billion baht. The company vowed to keep its leading position in the 4G market.
WHAT IS 4G?
It is short for the fourth generation of mobile phone technology and follows on from 2G and 3G.
The 2G technology was suitable for making calls and sending text messages, while 3G makes it possible to access the internet more effectively through mobile phones.
The arrival of 4G should make it much quicker to surf the web on your mobile, tablets and laptops with speeds nearer to what you experience with home broadband. Because of this, 4G is suited for services that demand more capacity such as video streaming, mapping and social networking sites.
For the typical user, download speeds on initial 4G networks could be 5-7 times quicker than those on 3G networks. This means a music album that takes 20 minutes to download on a 3G phone would take just over three minutes on 4G. This is based on existing 3G speeds being 1 Mbps on average and 4G speeds being 6 Mbps.
In theory, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) says 4G networks are promising superfast download speeds of up to 100 Mbps, while the 3G networks promise download speeds of up to 42 Mbps.
This means a music record taking just one second to download on a 4G phone but up to 10 seconds on 3G, a standarddefinition video taking one second to download via 4G but 20 seconds on 3G, a high-definition video taking 30 seconds via 4G but 1-5 minutes on 3G, and a picture taking one second to download on a 4G phone but up to 25 seconds on 3G.
DATA BOOM
Thailand has more than 40 million mobile internet users compared with 35 million desktop-only internet users.
“This says that Thailand is a mobilefirst country,” says Ariya Banomyong, managing director of Line Thailand. 4G services will lead to a rapid rise in demand for video content, he adds.
Thailand ranks No.1 in the world for watching videos online. Users watch Line TV three days a week. The country has the world’s third-largest Facebook population with 35 million and the second-largest number of YouTube video views in Asia after Japan.
According to an Ericsson ConsumerLab survey, 89% of 1,600 respondents in Thailand use social media on a weekly basis. Mobile data traffic will continue to grow at an impressive rate, driven by an uptake in smart devices and applications.
Deployment of 4G LTE wireless networks will provide operators with more efficient networks to deliver highquality services as data traffic and device ownership continue to grow.
Ericsson says doubling broadband speeds for an economy can add 0.3% to GDP growth.
Bunyati Kirdniyom, Ericsson Thailand’s head for regulatory affair communications, says his company predicts 1 billion 4G subscriptions globally this year, reaching 4.1 billion by 2021. It expects a 10-fold surge in mobile data traffic globally by 2021.
Mr Ariya says 4G will also be an expressway to equal access to information and education for everyone. It will also help businesses to expand online while attracting more global technology firms to invest more in ICT infrastructure in Thailand.
The recent 4G spectrum auctions could stimulate direct and indirect investment valued at 1.3 trillion baht over the next five years, says the NBTC.
The development will also transform Thailand into an internet-empowered economy and add impetus to it becoming an Asean digital infrastructure hub by 2020, says Col Settapong Malisuwa, the NBTC’s vice-chairman.
The number of 4G subscribers is expected to reach at least 20 million in 2016, boosted by aggressive promotional campaigns from AIS and True Move.
Thailand has 50 million 3G subscribers after only two years of service availability. The NBTC projects the number of mobile subscribers will exceed 170 million in 2016, up from 100 million this year.
Mobile phone penetration in Thailand will grow 3-4 times by 2020, driven by the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) technology that will be deployed in various sectors, especially education, telemedicine, logistics and security.
BANDWIDTH-HUNGRY ACTIVITIES
“2016 will a year of mobile application development as operators race to offer new high-speed wireless broadband services to capitalise on rapid growth of always-on communications and entertainment,” says Somchai Lertsuthiwong, chief executive of AIS.
Video streaming, social commerce, mobile games, mobile advertising, big data and cloud services are tipped to be popular. The IoT will see a burst of activity and play a crucial role in the 4G space.
Thais are expected to spend an average of 72,531 megabytes per number per month this year, according to a report by global research firm IDC. This will soar to 192,265 Mb by 2020, with web browsing accounting for 32% of traffic.
Col Settapong says Thailand’s ecosystem will develop significantly to become a mobile economy over the next five years in line with huge global momentum.
Mobile operators need ever more bandwidth to serve growing bandwidth-intensive activities, fuel led by the proliferation of smartphone sand faster speed of wireless broadband networks. Having a variety of mobile spectrum bands will enable them to greatly manage frequencies and data traffic flows.
Operators expect the global commercial launch of 5G in 2020.
AIS chief Somchai says operators need to have at least 100 MHz of operating bandwidth to address the persistent growth in demand for mobile broadband internet in the long term.
Suphachai Chearavanont, True Corporation chief executive , says holding as much bandwidth as possible will be operators’ core competency in the digital world.
FIERCE COMPETITION
The advent of 4G is set to intensify competition in the mobile market next year as operators seeks more market share in the lucrative higher-margin mobile data business. “2016 will be a year of 4G competition because mobile operators have sufficient frequencies while demand is also sufficient to enable head-to-head competition,” says DTAC chief technology officer Prathet Tankuranun.
Weeradej Panichwisai, research manager of IDC Thailand, says 4G mobile broadband services in Thailand will gain momentum in 2016, driven by greater variety of 4G-ready smartphones and rising number of data-enabled phone users. IDC Thailand, operating unit of the global IT research firm, expects 4G-enabled devices to account for up to 25% of smartphone sales in Thailand this year, rising to 50% by mid-2017.
State enterprises TOT Plc and CAT Telecom are also set to enter the 4G market next year. TOT plans to develop 4G services on its 64 bandwidth on the 2300-MHz spectrum through a private partnership. The NBTC has approved TOT to provide 4G services until 2025, and CAT to upgrade its 1800-MHz spectrum to provide 4G services until 2018.