ECONOMIC UPLOAD
4G wireless broadband service will boost the economy by up to 1 trillion baht over the next five years, says regulator.
The mass-market fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband service will boost the economy by up to 1 trillion baht over the next five years, says the regulator.
The deployment of 4G mobile infrastructure is also expected to handle more data more efficiently, transforming Thailand into an innovative economy, said Col Settapong Malisuwan, vice-chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
“4G mobile networks will generate up to 1 trillion baht for the overall economy and ICT-related businesses by 2020,” he said.
The 3G network deployment has generated 470 billion baht for the economy since 2013.
A study by the NBTC’s telecom committee showed that 4G will generate 119 billion baht in telecom business by 2020, another 114 billion for the macro economy, 284 billion in the capital market and financial investments, 50.6 billion in 4G use and 109 billion in mobile transactions.
The 4G network deployment will also generate 18.2 billion baht for the entertainment sector, 37.4 billion for education, 5 billion for social welfare activities and 111 billion for the public health sector.
It will also help generate electronic waste-related businesses worth 76 million baht.
Col Settapong said last month’s marathon 4G auction for the 1800-MHz spectrum fetched a combined 80.9 billion baht for the two licences, with each licence having 15 MHz of bandwidth.
The regulator will auction another two licences for the 900-MHz spectrum on Dec 15, with each licence containing 10 MHz of bandwidth.
“The number of 4G subscribers on the 1800-MHz spectrum alone is expected to reach 20 million in 2016,” Col Settapong said.
“The number of mobile subscriptions will top 170 million in 2016, up from 100 million this year.”
Col Settapong said the big trends in 4G mobile applications next year will be video streaming, social commerce, mobile games, mobile advertising, big data, cloud services and machine-to-machine communication or the Internet of Things.
He believes mobile operators will have to own more and more telecom bandwidth, both low and high bands, to maintain their service quality and accommodate increasing data traffic.
The low band comprises those spectrum ranges below 1000 MHz, while the upper band contains those beyond 1000 MHz including the 1800-MHz and 2100MHz bands.
Col Settapong said mobile operators would need to hold a variety of spectrum bands, especially when 5G technology is expected to be launched in 2020.