The Development of ICT in Thailand by Thaweesak Koanantakool, Ph.D. Director National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) Ministry of Science Technology and Environment Good afternoon, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, it’s really my privilege to be here today on behalf of Dr. Thaweesak Koanantakool, the director of NECTEC. Dr. Thaweesak asked me to convey his apology for not being able to be here today. March 5, 2002

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Presentation Outline National IT Policy Framework Current Status: IT Indicators Pilot Projects/Activities Future Prospects & Challenges Today, my talk will be from the perspective that the government’s role is to set the rule for and facilitate ICT development in the country. The outline of my presentation today will be as follows. First, I’ll start by talking about the National IT Policy Framework of Thailand, followed by our current status on some important IT indicators. Then, I’ll touch upon our e-Government Initiative, and lastly, I’ll present our perspectives for the future of IT development in this country. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool National IT Policy Framework March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

National IT Committee (NITC) Founded in March 1992 Chaired by the Prime Minister Comprised of Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, High-level Officers from both Public and Private Sector NECTEC is Secretariat http://www.nitc.go.th The IT policy development in Thailand is led by the National IT Committee, which is chaired by the PM and is comprised of ..... The National Electronics and Computer Technology Center or NECTEC has been appointed as the committee’s secretariat. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

National IT Policy Framework Thailand National Policy: IT 2000, developed by National IT Committee (NITC). Endorsed by the Cabinet in 1996 Regarding the IT policy framework, for the past 5 years, we have been operating under the IT2000, which is the first IT plan in the country. It was developed by the NITC which is chaired by the PM, and was endorsed by the Cabinet in 1996.

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC POWER IN S/E ASIA IT2000 - National IT Policy SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC POWER IN S/E ASIA SOCIAL EQUITY & PROSPERITY ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY SOCIETY IT-ENABLED THAILAND NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE HUMAN RESOURCE GOOD GOVERNANCE

Government Actions on E-Commerce Development Electronic Commerce Policy Framework Officially announced by Thai Government on October 17, 2000 Cabinet Committee on International Economics Policy Electronic Commerce Policy Subcommittee Department of Business Economics Ministry of Commerce Secretariat As for the e-commerce development, the government has set up the e-commerce subcommittee. The e-commerce policy framework was developed and officially announced by the government last year. Electronic Commerce Resource Center NECTEC

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Example of Pilot Projects initiated by NITC to materialize the goal of each Pillar of IT 2000 SchoolNet: a national school informatization action program GINet: Development of Government Information Network IT Laws Development: Development of legal infrastructure to support the widespread use of IT in the country Here are some examples of the pilot projects or activities that were initiated by NITC to materialize the goal of each pillar in IT 2000, First, we have SchoolNet, which is a national program to bring the Internet to School to enhance educational opportunity and to bridge the information and knowledge gap between students in urban and rural areas. Second, we have Government Information Network to serve as a backbone for communication and information exchange among government agencies to reduce the creation of inefficient overlaid networks, and to optimize the use of resources. And last, we have an IT law development project to develop legal infrastructure to support the widespread use of It in the society. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Current Status : IT Indicators And having all these policies in place, what have we achieved so far. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Teledensities 10% Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/thailand/index.html. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

The Internet in Thailand (October 2001) Started in 1991 as a Research Network funded by NECTEC 18 commercial providers, 4 non-commercial providers Est. 3.5 million users (approx. 5.6/100 population) total international bandwidth 570 Mbps Over 105,721 hosts under .th TLD Over 7,000 domains under .th TLD PC penetration 2.43/100 population In terms of Internet development in Thailand, .... March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Information Society Indicators of Thailand - Internet As of March 2002: Internet users: (5.6 users/100) 3.5 million Internet hosts: (4,584 hosts/10000) 0.1 million Internet domains (.th): 7,000 domains Internet domains (total estimate): 14,000 domains Schools online with SchoolNet: app. 4,200 schools International bandwidth: 690 Mbps Domestic backbone bandwidth: 1,173 Mbps Domestic exchange traffic: 1,147 Gbytes/day Sources: Internet Information Research Center (NECTEC), Thai ISP Club, Thai Network Information Center, SchoolNet Program Office (NECTEC). Currently, we have approximately 3.5 million internet users, Internet domain under .th about 7,000 domains, internet hosts under .th about 100,000, International bandwidth 570 Mbps and domestic exchange traffic of over 1100 Gbytes per day. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Internet Users in Thailand March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Information Society Indicators of Thailand - Internet 1,475 Gbytes of data are circulating here every day. 18 commercial Internet Service Providers March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Information Society Indicators of Thailand - Internet 642 Mbps This graph shows the growth of international bandwidth in the past 4 years since 1998, month by month,... March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Broadband Comparison March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Perceived problems Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/thailand/index.html. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Development Goals Backbone : high speed and affordable Last Mile : high speed, widely available, affordable Content : informative and educational, local wisdom Internet Services : reliable services, affordable price, widely coverage Secured Internet : for national security and secured business transaction Safe Internet : for children and youth Wealth creation : for national economy March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Pilot Projects/Activities Development of IT Laws SchoolNet Thailand e-Government Initiative Pilot Telecenters National ICT Plan March 5, 2002

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Development of IT Laws Electronic Transactions Act Electronic Signature Act National Information infrastructure Act Data Protection Act Computer Crime Act Electronic Funds Transfer Act We also have been working on many laws to support the development of the information society. These are for example, the radio frequency management act, the telecommunication business act... The purpose of these are to liberalize the telecommunications industry. The rest are related to electronic transaction, electronic signature, national info. Infrastructure, the data protection, the computer crime, and the electronic funds transfer. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Progress to Date Electronic Transactions Bill and Electronic Signature Bill  Electronic Transactions Act Issued: December 4, 2001 Effective date of enactment: April 3, 2002. National Information Infrastructure Bill approved by the Cabinet and was reviewed by the Council of State. Now it is awaiting to be submitted to the Parliament Data Protection Law endorsed by NITC and is being submitted to the Cabinet Presently, the electronic transaction bill and the electronic signature bill has been combined into one called the electronic transaction bill, which was passed and issued in the royal decree last month and will become enacted by March this year. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Narrowing the Digital Divide SchoolNet Access is available free of charge to schools nationwide. Phone call is USD 0.08 per call everywhere 2 Mbps 4,260 Schools are now online 5.6 Mbps CAT TOT 5,000 Schools online By the end of 2002

Thailand e-Government Initiative Next, I’m going to touch upon the issue of e-Government. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

e-Government Project (A Multi-Agency Project) NECTEC -- Core facilitating/coordinating Agency Bank of Thailand -- Project Sponsor (Governor) and contributor of some project team members. CEOs of key related public agencies -- Co-Sponsors, and contributor of some project team members. Office of the Civil Service commission Bureau of Budget National Economic and Social Development Board Office of the Prime Minister Project Duration -- March 2001 - March 2003 As for the e-Government project, which is developed as a multi-agency project, NECTEC mainly serves as core implementing and coordinating agency.. Members of the team are representatives from key agencies such as ..... March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Project Scope To coordinate, facilitate and drive for the following achievements/provisions: Master Plan, Action Plan, and Strategic Framework for implementing the e-Government program Electronic services in public agencies Implementation of key pilot projects More specifically, the scope of this project is to coordinate facilitate and drives for the following achievements... March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Project Scope (cont’d) Recommendations and Practical Guidelines for reorganization and reengineering of the new services. Standards, Guidelines and Manuals for public agencies in implementing the e-Government program March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Main tracks of e-Government Services Four main tracks of electronic services in the public agencies: Track 1: Online Information Services: (G2G) (G2C) (G2B) Track 2: Simple Transaction Services: (G2C) (G2B) Track 3: Payment Gateway: (B2G) (C2G) (Electronic Funds Transfer) Track 4: e-Procurement: (G2B) In this project, we have identified four main tracks of electronic services in the public sector. These are, .... March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool e-Government Portal March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Community Empowerment Initiative March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Pilot Telecenters Project Collaboration between NECTEC, Community Organization Development Institute (NGO), Private Company (under the project funded by CIDA) Pilot implementation prior to the enactment of National Information Infrastructure Law March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Pilot Telecenters Project Objectives Community empowerment Poverty reduction (increase household income) by providing access to information and communication Enhance market opportunity for local products and/or tourist attractions Enhance learning opportunity for people in remote community Bridging the digital divide March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool An initiative to bridge the digital divide in local community March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool Future Prospects IT 2010: Towards a Knowledge-Based and Sustainable Economy/Society And, these will be my last three slides. Last year, the NITC has developed the IT policy framework for the next 10 years called IT 2010, and it is now awaiting cabinet’s approval. The development goal of IT 2010 is to deploy ICT to bring Thailand into the knowledge-based and sustainable economy and society. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

IT Development Framework for 2000-2010 (IT 2010) Towards the Knowledge-Based Economy Society e-Industry e-Commerce services/agriculture/ and tourism e-Society e-Education e-Government Science and Technology, R&D, Knowledge Information Development, IT Literacy, IT HR Telecommunication Infrastructure And, to this end, we try to put a balance between the economic side and the social side by emphasizing on 5 strategic flagships, those are, e-commerce, e-industry, e-government, e-education, and e-society. These will be made possible by three important infrastructures which have to be built and deploy effectively. These are, information infrastructure, human resources, S&T infrastructure, and telecommunication infrastructure. Presently, we are working with various stakeholders to develop a 5-year master plan on ICT to be conformed with the IT 2010 framework, and this should be ready by around March this year. Quantity Quality March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Objectives of ICT Strategies Export Country Development ICT Industry Electrical Electronics Computer Telecommunications Software ICT for Country Development Enhancing Competitiveness Building up Knowledge based Society Sustainable Development ICT and Knowledge as enabling technology Domestic market as key for technological capacity building

Major Challenges Await The Informatization of Local Government (Tambon Administrative Organization) How to Accommodate Students (and teachers) in the Era of 9/12 yrs of Mandatory & Free Education The Need for Industrial Restructuring (lessons learned from recent economic crisis) the Co-existence of our Agriculture-Industrial-Information Ages Digital Divide in All Facets Social Decency & a Caring Society And lastly, here are some of major challenges ahead of us.....which I believe we don’t yet have all the answers but hoping that, with proper ICT policy and plan, we would be able to tackle some of them, and these challenges are how to go about the following : informatization of local government accommodating students and teachers .... industrial restructuring balancing the co-existence of... bridging the digital divide Maintaining social decency and nurturing caring society And with this, I’d like to end my presentation..Thank You for your attention. March 5, 2002 APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

Thank you for your attention Sawasdee Thank you for your attention www.nitc.go.th www.nectec.or.th This presentation is available at: www.nectec.or.th/users/htk/publish/a2002.ppt And last, but not least, I would like to say I am glad to be here to listen and share experiences with our friends in the region. I think it’s very important that we join hands to make Asia stand up in the wave of global information revolution or new economy, and to make us stronger and more competitive. And with this, I’d like to end my presentation. Thank you very much for your attention.. March 5, 2002