'Huge losses' for firms that don't adjust to 3G
The new 3.9G network will bring with it new opportunities as well as big risks for all stakeholders, including consumers, operators and businesses, participants at the Bangkokbiznews' "3G: Impact on Consumers in the Social Media Era" forum were told.
Commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Natee Sukonrat said according to the licensing criteria, 3G operators are required to cover at least 80 per cent of the population within four years.
NTC also expects users of high-speed Internet to rise from the current 10 per cent to 80 per cent during that period. This should offer a lot of opportunities to not just online businesses, producers of access devices such as mobile phones and computers, online advertising and Internet hosting services, but also for businesses that use the wireless broadband network to increase their competitiveness.
"As scheduled, we will put the 3.9G licence under the hammer by late September and hope that the service will be available to the public by the end of this year. NTC will also hold the '3.9G Thailand Human DNA Expo' in September to promote 3G-related businesses and draw foreign investments," Natee said.
Pawoot Pongvitayapanu, managing director of Tarad.com and vice president of the Thai E-Commerce Association, said 3G networking should offer bigger opportunities to local businesses if they learn how to make the most of a higher bandwidth broadband connection, otherwise they will just be leaving the door open to foreign competitors.
"NTC should guide Thai businesses and make them aware of how they can add value and boost their performance with a 3G network. If this is not done and if local businesses are unable to adjust themselves, they will start making huge losses," Pawoot said.
Similarly, he added, content providers should also prepare themselves for 3G networking. Local Internet users are already using international websites, and if local content providers cannot offer anything more attractive they will start losing visitors to their websites faster than ever.
Moreover, in terms of consumers, he added they should be ready for getting overloaded with content that comes with faster wireless Internet access. Chalermchatree Yukol, managing director of the online TV station FukDuk.TV, said Internet users should be concerned about their readiness for consuming vast amounts of content brought to them by high-bandwidth connections and that local content providers should be ready for bigger competition.
Meanwhile, Atip Asvanund, assistant director of Strategic Projects and Innovation at True Move, said the availability of 3G networking would present the country with a competitive edge and attract more foreign investors because this was one of the key conditions for investment in many countries.
He added that local operators should also be prepared for an influx of foreign investors meeting the huge financial requirements.
Atip said the investment cost should be kept competitive so the service can end up being more affordable. For instance, he said, the 3G licence fee in Guatemala is 50 per cent lower than in other European countries, so it can offer the service 50-per-cent cheaper, which means there are twice as many 3G users in Guatemala than in other countries.
"I think Bt12.8 billion investment required is too high compared to other Asian countries. The 3G network is not just about voice communication, but also about community, content and commerce," Atip said.
Plus, he said, the 3G network will help Thailand catch up with its neighbours in terms of Internet access and usage - both important factors for ranking a country's competitiveness.
"Thailand only has a 10 per cent high-speed Internet penetration rate, while Singapore has 72 per cent, Malaysia 66 per cent, Vietnam 26 per cent and the Philippines 25 per cent. More high-speed Internet means more opportunities to increase the country's GDP," Atip explained.
Meanwhile, Saree Aongsom-wang, director of the Foundation for Consumers, said that even though the upcoming 3G network will offer more opportunities to consumers, there are still lots of issues for people to be concerned about, such as the voice/data pricing and the tariff structure. Consumers also need to be protected from unfair practises. Saree advised NTC to include a "consumer protection plan" when giving out licences.