1. The Development of ICT in Thailandby
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

2. 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

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

4. 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
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

5. 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.

6. SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC POWER IN S/E ASIA
IT 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool
Teledensities
10%
Source:
March 5, 2002
APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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

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

17. APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool
Perceived problems
Source:
March 5, 2002
APRICOT 2002 – Keynote speech, Thaweesak Koanantakool

18. 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

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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

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

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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. Thank you for your attention
Sawasdee
Thank you for your attention
This presentation is available at:
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