Channel 0207 Information and Communications

Economic Rebound to Drive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Demand in Asia Pacific: Avaya Survey

2010-02-07T04:42:00.001-08:00

Avaya today announced the findings of its “Tuning Into The Channel” survey conducted at its annual Avaya Asia Pacific Business Partner Conference in Beijing, China.

The survey was conducted by Avaya Asia Pacific by polling participants from 20 countries in Asia Pacific who attended the conference.

The survey highlights a positive sentiment within Avaya’s Asia Pacific channel network with 64.6 percent of the respondents expecting to see a demand surge in ICT before the end of 2010 as the economy continues to improve in 2010. Among respondents, 37.7 percent see the SME sector as the biggest driver for this increase over the next 12 months. This positive sentiment is supported by business momentum as 40.5 percent of the Avaya channel partners polled said their customers have identified ‘making selected investments in projects to drive productivity’ as a key strategy over the next 12 months.

Financial Services (27.3 percent) and Telecoms (19.5 percent) are other key sectors identified as driving growth in what in 2010. The survey identified Unified Communications as a big opportunity in 2010 with 36.3 percent of the respondents identifying it as”the best opportunity for 2010”. The survey indicates that as many as 85 percent of channel partner customers prefer to extend and invest in existing systems. As many as 61.5 percent of channel partners polled are considering new contact centre solutions to improve their own customer service capabilities this year..

“The positive sentiment shared by our channel partners is good news for Avaya,” said Chee Heng Loon, director, Channels, Avaya Asia Pacific. “We see a similar reaction from many of our customers following our merger with Nortel Enterprise Solutions in December 2009.Avaya is well-positioned to strengthen our leadership in Asia Pacific,”

Altegrity Risk International Announces Acquisition of Corporate Risk International

2010-02-07T02:48:00.001-08:00

Altegrity Risk International, Inc. (ARI), president and CEO Michael Beber today announced that ARI—an Altegrity, Inc., company providing high-quality due diligence, investigative, analytic, consulting, intelligence, and security solutions to organizations around the world—has acquired Corporate Risk International (CRI), a global, full-service business intelligence and risk management firm. CRI has provided due diligence, investigative, and crisis management services globally for almost 20 years. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“The marriage of CRI’s broad industry and process expertise and ARI’s investment in technology, databases, and analytics, creates a winning combination,” said Mr. Beber. “Together under the Altegrity Risk International brand, we will provide enhanced due diligence, investigative, analytic, consulting, and intelligence solutions to our growing U.S. and international customer base.”

CRI specializes in U.S. and international due diligence and investigative projects, white collar crime investigations, business intelligence gathering, undercover investigative operations, and anti-money laundering analyses. The company also conducts security and risk assessment surveys and provides crisis management and executive protection services.

Founded in 1991, CRI is headquartered in the Washington D.C. area and has offices in Houston (which serves customers in the U.S. and Latin America), Hong Kong, and London. The company has a network of analysts, investigators, consultants, and crisis response specialists around the globe with experience in more than 150 countries. Over the past five years, CRI has conducted more than 65,000 diligence reviews and investigations, over 60 percent of which had an international scope.

In addition, through a long-term relationship with Professional Indemnity Agency (PIA), CRI handles cases involving kidnapping, illegal detention, and extortion. Since 1993, CRI has successfully responded to more than 500 such crises in every major country around the globe. ARI will continue to provide these services under the CRI brand.

“This acquisition brings together many of the top professionals in the risk management, investigations, business intelligence, and due diligence fields,” said Lee Spirer, ARI chief operating officer. “Working closely with the CRI leadership team, I have gained tremendous respect for their capabilities and the quality of their professionals at all levels. Their wealth of global experience and significant

international customer base provides a strong platform upon which we will grow. Together, we have significant aspirations for what we can help our clients achieve.”

Sean McWeeney, CRI founder and chairman, will continue to provide advice and counsel to the ARI leadership team. Jim McWeeney, CRI president and CEO, will serve as senior managing director and leader of ARI’s Decision Intelligence practice area. Tom McWeeney, CRI chief operating officer, will serve as managing director and leader of the Washington, D.C., area office.

“This is a great opportunity for CRI, our employees, and our customers,” said Jim McWeeney. “The strategic combination provides additional resources to grow our business and expand our customer-focused solutions around the world. Together, this new team will extend our solutions that help clients anticipate, prevent, and resolve issues, reduce fraud and loss, and maximize business opportunities.”

Altegrity Risk International (ARI) provides high quality due diligence, investigative, analytic, consulting, intelligence, and security solutions to multinational corporations and other organizations around the world. The company’s multidisciplinary team of experts from the fields of investigations, forensics, data intelligence, and financial technology provides its clients with specialized solutions to identify, analyze, prevent, and remediate the entire range of financial,

legal/regulatory, and reputational risks. Headquartered in New York City, ARI provides global coverage through offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

Corporate Risk International (CRI) employs a domestic and international network of 400-plus highly experienced security consultants, investigators and specialists. CRI specializes in major domestic (USA) and international due diligence and investigative projects, white collar crime investigations, business intelligence gathering, undercover investigative operations and anti-money laundering analyses. CRI also conducts security and risk assessment surveys, executive protection, emergency evacuations, and responds to cases involving kidnapping, illegal detention and extortion.

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements identify prospective information. Important factors could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from those stated in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by which, such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions, or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

Foundation of Advance Java Programming

2010-02-07T02:24:00.000-08:00

This course provides all the necessary foundation in Java programming language to create and maintain a Web site. Attendees will study the sciences of Object-Oriented programming with extensive hand-on examples.

Course Audience

A working knowledge of Windows 95, HTML and some programming experience in C or Pascal.
Course Contents
Getting Started
- Introducing Java Development Kit using javac.exe, and java.exe.
- Class loading, standard classes, extension classes, and Classpath
- Java Applications and Java Archive Runtime (JAR)
- Introduction to Program Development using ANT, JUnit and Log4j.
Object-Oriented Programming in Java
- Object-oriented paradigm V.S. Imperative paradigm
- Class, Instances, Data members and Method Members and Constructors
- Scope rules, Symbol Tables, Lifetime of instances and Environments.
- Modifiers, Visibility Scope Rules, Packages.
- Shadowing, Overriding, Dynamic Binding, Inheritance and Polymorphism.
- Abstract Classes, Interfaces, Inner Classes, and Anonymous Classes.
Exception Handling
- Exception and Interrupt
- Throwable, Error, and Exception Class,
- Catching Scope of try and catch statement, and finally statement.
- Throwing Exceptions, and User Defined Exception
Threads
- Thread Class , Runnable Interface
- Thread Properties, Priorities, and Lifetime of Threads
- Sleep(), suspend(), resume(), wait(), join(), stop(), yield()
- Daemon Threads, and ThreadGroup
- Mutually Exclusive, Synchronization, and Dead Lock

- Using interrupt() for stop(), using wait() and notify() for suspend() and resume()
Streams
- Byte Streams, and Character Streams
- Input/Output Streams, and Reader/Writer Streams

- Filter Input/Output Stream Data Input/Output, Print. Buffered, CharArray, String, Piped, LineNumber, Pushback Streams
- File, FileStream, Random Access Files, and Zip Streams
Serialization
- Object Streams, and Persistent
- Serializable Interface
- Transient Members
- Class ID and Object versioning
Internationalization
- Locale Class
- MessagesBundle, ResourceBundle, and ListResourceBundle
- NumberFormat, Percentages, Currency, Decimal, Date, and Time
- Message, Text, Collation, Non-unicode Text
Applets
- Applet Life Cycle. and Event-Driven Programming
- HTML Applet TAG, Codebase and AppletClassLoader
- Applet Container: Applet Context, Applet Stub and SecurityManager
GUI (AWT and Swing Set)
- Component, Container, Window, Frame, Dialog, and Applet.
- Adding Components in a Container and Layout Management
- Jcomponent Class and Lightweight Components
- Top-level Components: JFrame, Japplet, JWindow, and JDialog

- Look-and-Feel, Model-View-Controller Architecture, Non-Opaque Components, Action, and Box
Event Handling
- Old Event Model and Delegation Event Model.
- Low level Event and Semantics Event.
- Delegation Event Model: Event Classes, Listener, and Adapters
- processEvent(), dispatchEvent(), Modify and Consuming Events.
- User Define Events
Course Benefits

In order to create stable and reliable information system, an organization, especially one that deals with E-Commerce, needs to carefully consider a programming language that is practical and flexible for further development in the long run. Java programming language has shown that it is a very useful programming language and can be applied to create the entire software system for a large-scale organization.

CIOs in Asia Pacific Bullish on Upturn in Economy, Reveals Hitachi Data Systems Poll Report

2010-02-07T01:14:00.000-08:00

Reducing costs will continue to lead the agenda of IT leadership going into 2010

Though grave uncertainties shrouded the world economy in the last year, a majority of CIOs in Asia Pacific believe that economic recovery will set in by 2010. This was revealed in a recently-unveiled poll report that outlines the CIOs’ mindset for recovery based on a survey conducted by Hitachi Data Systems—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT)—at their annual CIO Summit late last year. An overwhelming majority (86%) of the CIOs believe that recovery will be in place by 2010.

Titled ‘The CIO Roadmap to Recovery’, the report summarizes the key CIO challenges in 2010 and the need for businesses to transform into leaner, greener, yet more flexible and business centered units. The report provides a detailed analysis and action plan of how CIOs and IT professionals can use limited funds in targeted, specific areas to derive the greatest possible strategic business value from IT in the most cost effective way.

“CIOs are challenged with flat IT budgets while managing the surge of data. As businesses gradually move towards recovery, CIOs need to take a hard and in-depth look at the areas that contribute towards building a resilient IT framework that will deliver results and help organizations to succeed during an upturn. Hitachi Data Systems is focused on helping companies to drive redundant costs out of their storage implementation by utilizing existing assets. Strategic use of technologies such as virtualization and dynamic provisioning automate performance and increase utilization, helping enterprises to align IT and business goals most effectively,” said Watcharasit Santisuknirun, Thailand Country Manager of Hitachi Data Systems.

The survey shed light on key CIO priorities for 2010 and cost management remains a perennial concern. With a growing expectation that IT organizations will shift from being a cost center to a profit center, a storage strategy that reduces OPEX is a top priority for APAC CIOs.

Reducing costs was highlighted again when the CIOs were asked on what they value most in their organization’s IT strategy and reducing operating costs headed the list (50%) beating technology implementation.

Mindset towards adopting new technology in Asia Pacific is high, as 73% of the CIOs expresses interest in pursuing new technology and be one of the first to use them. However in the same vein, almost 50% of the CIOs were of the opinion that the inability to calculate the financial benefits (Return on Investment) of an improved information infrastructure presents the highest barrier to investing in new information infrastructure.

The report provides valuable insights into how IT can be leveraged as a business enabler, sustainable IT strategies, and upcoming technologies on the block like cloud computing.

The survey was conducted when CIOs and senior IT representatives of top enterprises across Asia Pacific attended the Hitachi Data Systems Asia Pacific CIO Summit at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, in early November. The Summit served as an opportunity for senior IT management from across the region to meet and share insights with each other on the upturn in the economy.
About Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation provides Services Oriented Storage Solutions that enable heterogeneous storage to be dynamically provisioned according to business needs and centrally managed via industry leading Hitachi storage virtualization software. With over 4,100 employees, and as an integral part of the Hitachi Storage Solutions Group, Hitachi Data Systems delivers storage infrastructure platforms, storage management software, and storage consulting services through direct and indirect channels in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include nearly 60 percent of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500®. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.hds.com.
About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT/TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2008 (ended March 31, 2009) consolidated revenues totaled 10,000 billion yen ($102.0 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

HP StorageWorks X9000 Network Storage Systems Family

2010-02-05T21:36:00.001-08:00

HP led by (from left to right) Mr. Ong Swee Lye, Regional Sales Manager, StorageWorks Division, HP Enterprise Business, Mr. Humprey Sy, South East Asia Business Manager StorageWorks Division, HP Enterprise Business, Mr. Wu Wen Yong, Technology Consultant – NAS, StorageWorks Division, HP Enterprise Business and Mr. Wongviwat Siritasanakul, Product Manager, StorageWorks Division, HP Enterprise Business, Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Ltd. recently held the seminar on “HP StorageWorks 2010” to update Thai business executives and IT professionals on today’s enterprise storage trends and to introduce the new HP StorageWorks X9000 Network Storage Systems for enterprise customers.

HP StorageWorks X9000 Network Storage Systems scale-out beyond traditional network attached storage systems in both capacity and performance. Designed to be extremely scalable, flexible, and cost-efficient, HP X9000 Network Storage Systems deliver excellent performance and a modular storage infrastructure to accommodate the unprecedented amount of data today’s enterprises need to cope with. Central management allows the administrator to manage not just terabytes but multi-petabyte environments at the highest density available from HP. The pay-as-you-grow architecture and an all-inclusive feature set eliminate storage over-provisioning or expensive add-ons. The X9000 increases capacity utilization and simplifies management with a single namespace that can scale to 16 petabytes. The X9000 is the right platform for customers designing a next generation data center.
About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Juniper Networks, Polycom Partner to Improve Experience and Economics of Visual Communication Networks

2010-01-30T00:28:00.001-08:00

Alliance to maximize converged and intelligent network capabilities to deliver telepresence and video conferencing services with assured quality

Juniper Networks(R) (NYSE: JNPR) and Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) today announced a strategic alliance focused on improving the reliability, cost-effectiveness and quality of the customer experience for telepresence and video conferencing services. Anchored by dynamic signaling between the Juniper network resource control platform and the Polycom video call control system, the integrated managed video services solution significantly reduces the total capital expense and ongoing operating and maintenance costs and requirements, while improving the delivery and manageability of visual communications.

Scheduled for release in mid 2010, the partnership will deliver an intelligent service provider solution that enables assured-quality managed video services over a converged network. As the industry’s first “conferencing-aware” network solution, it will help drive costs out of the delivery of high-value telepresence and comprehensive video conferencing managed services by allowing service providers to maximize the capabilities of their existing network. Implementing a single-network solution is a significantly more scalable and profitable model for service providers compared to the current overlay network model for supporting telepresence and video conferencing services.

In addition to the benefits for service providers, enterprise customers will also have more control over how services are delivered, while increasing the business value of those services by enabling telepresence and video conferencing traffic to run over the same networking equipment as other applications with assured quality. By providing enterprise customers with highly reliable and cost-effective managed service options to support enterprise-wide telepresence and HD video conferencing deployments (telepresence, room and desktop), the solution can drive collaboration, increase productivity, and reduce costs. This is because the managed service model can deliver a faster return on investment for customers through lower upfront costs and predictable on-going operational costs for video services, while it also provides capabilities for secure business-to-business collaboration.

“The exploding interest in visual communication has created an urgent need for a more reliable and cost-effective model for delivering assured quality video services,” said Gerri Elliott, executive vice president for strategic alliances, Juniper Networks. “Leveraging Junos Space, an open platform for ecosystem partners, Juniper and Polycom are jointly developing a unique solution that will enable carriers to maximize the value of their existing networks to deliver scalable, high quality video services. This will allow carriers to move away from siloed networks toward more intelligent and efficient converged networks that are more sustainable and profitable in the long-term.”

“Visual communication is becoming an increasingly strategic tool in today’s dynamic, global business environment as organizations across industries are adopting it to work more effectively across distances and reduce costs,” said Bob Hagerty, CEO, Polycom. “Teaming with Juniper, our goal is to help improve the quality and efficiency of visual communications on the network, so customers have deployment options and can confidently incorporate the technology into their core business processes and as a key component of their unified communications initiatives.”

The global market for visual communication managed services is projected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 162 percent between 2008 and 2015, rising from nearly $83 million to reach approximately $940 million.1 Total demand for visual communication solutions and services is projected to reach $8.6B, with a CAGR of 17.8% between 2008 and 2013.2

"TELUS sees the value of network and resource aware applications as the way of the future. The demonstration in 2009 within a global multi-service provider IPSphere field trial for enabling assured telepresence and video conferencing services via the Juniper SRC and Polycom equipment demonstrates the new ways and opportunities for monetizing intelligent IP connectivity,” said Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO of TELUS. “Carriers can benefit from dynamic application-network signalling to not only cost-effectively manage their resources, but also create more value for their business customers by delivering assured video and other application service experiences.”

“Juniper and Polycom are leveraging their respective strengths in carrier-class network architectures and enterprise telepresence and video conferencing to change how video traffic runs on the network among other applications,” said name, title of Wainhouse Research, which has published a whitepaper about the solution. “This is the first example of a solution where the video communication platform dynamically interacts with the network, enabling assured quality for video among other applications and allowing service providers to intelligently utilize the full potential of their infrastructure as needed.”

The solution will combine high-performance network infrastructure systems from Juniper with industry-leading telepresence and video conferencing systems from Polycom. Specifically, it includes the Junos Space network application platform and its subscriber suite that includes policy and identity services, the MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers, and SRX Series Services Gateways with integrated routing and security for streamlined enterprise connectivity. Key Polycom components include Polycom telepresence systems and visual communication infrastructure products, including the Polycom Distributed Media Application (DMA) that centralizes call control and provides further failover redundancy.

The combination of the Junos Space network resource orchestration, real-time interactions between its policy and identity services and the Junos® operating system, with the Polycom DMA call control server enables a dynamic coordinated allocation of video and network resources, driven by user video session needs. This allows service providers to more accurately control and deliver video quality of service on a converged network shared with other applications. By maximizing their network capabilities and value, carriers can scale their networks more cost-effectively and realize higher margins for services.
Availability:

The Juniper Networks, Polycom service provider solution is planned for availability in mid-year 2010.

About Juniper Networks From devices to data centers, from consumers to the cloud, Juniper Networks delivers innovative software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. The company serves more than 30,000 customers and partners worldwide, and generated more than $3 billion in revenue over the last year. Additional information can be found at www.juniper.net.
About Polycom

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.

1 - Frost and Sullivan, “World Visual Communication Managed Services Market,” Nov. 2009

2 - Gartner, “Video Conference Products and Services Market Forecast, Worldwide 2007 to 2013,” Sept. 28, 2009.

Juniper Networks and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Juniper Networks and Junos logos are trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

(C) 2010 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM(R), the Polycom “Triangles” logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom’s products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Acer targets 30 per cent growth, “express. your. excellence” concept key to maintain leadership

2010-01-29T22:38:00.001-08:00

Acer Computer Co., Ltd., Thailand's No. 1 computer maker, sets 30 per cent sales growth this year -- maintaining its championship position with its remarkable successful multibrand strategy that responds to every end-user groups and a call for the spirit of achievement with the concept: “express. your. excellence.”

Mr. Harry Yang, Managing Director, Acer Computer Co., Ltd., said Acer Thailand prides itself on its success in 2009 as a leading and No. 1 brand in overall PC market quantity with 18 per cent growth. Notebook computer sales alone soared 22 per cent. At the global level, Acer reached second spot in worldwide PC market ranking in the 3rd quarter last year, with market share of 15.4 per cent, up five percentage points from the previous year, according to Gartner report. . Acer also enjoyed record sales of 10.96 million notebook computers, or growth of 25.6 per cent, in the past year. This year at the global level Acer aims to be number one Notebook in term of product shipment.

Mr. Yang added that he is confident that IT market will rebound because we have passed the economic crisis. There are number of satisfaction factors point to a better economic condition. Bank of Thailand, Thai Chamber of Commerce and The Federation of Thai Industries forecast

3.5 -4 percent GDP for this year. A research from Kasikorn Research predicts the market value for computer around 53, 290 – 57,290 million baht or an increase of 8.1 – 16.3 percent. With these pointers I am confident that Acer will capture market share of 1.1 million units sale: Notebook = 800,000 units or more than 40 percent market share and Desktop = 300,000 units or 25 percent market share.”

“Our revenue target this year is to grow 30 percent. We will continue driving our multibrand products and strategies to offer more choices to the market. Innovation will be Acer branding while Fashion IT is Gateway position and eMachine is for user who are looking for performance. As the leading PC maker, Acer is committed to a fresh, innovative and functionality products and technology. You can expect to see more excitement from Acer this year. Our channel and business partners is also our key to success. We will help empower them to expand their business. As for the service, Acer will continue to improve our services in order to assist our customers.” Added Mr.Yang.

“Last but not least, in the year of Tiger, Acer will drive market under the 'express. your. excellence' concept as part of aspiring for achievement. Acer is proud to be a Worldwide TOP Partner of the Olympic Movement in the official computing equipment product category for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In Thailand, we are the official partner of the Royal Thai Army Football Club (RTAFC) this year. As a global company we thrive to motivate local talent. Together with the RTAFC we will motivate and encourage local support for Thai League games and at the same time build up more football player in the consumer arena and better access to football for Thai youth.”
About Acer

Since its founding in 1976, Acer has constantly pursued the goal of breaking the barriers between people and technology. Focused on marketing its brand-name IT products around the globe, Acer ranks as the world's No. 3 vendor for total PCs and No. 2 for notebooks, with the fastest growth among the top-five players. A profitable and sustainable Channel Business Model is instrumental to Acer’s continued growth, while the successful mergers of Gateway and Packard Bell complete the company’s global footprint by strengthening its presence in the U.S., and enhancing its strong position in Europe. Acer Inc. employs 6,000 people worldwide. 2008 revenues reached US$16.65 billion. See www.acer.com for more information.

Acer first penetrated the market in Thailand 1984, establishing an office in 1993. Acer Computer Co., Ltd. has been growing rapidly and is now widely recognized in Thailand. A major sponsor of the 13th Asian Games held in Bangkok in 1998, the company has been the recipient of The Reader’s Digest “Outstanding Brand Performance” for eight years. Moreover we have been ranking no. 1 notebook selling for 13 consecutive quarters (Y2003-present). For more information, please visit the Acer website at www.acer.co.th.

Acer and the Acer logo are registered trademarks of Acer Incorporated. Other trademarks, registered trademarks and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the properties of their respective owners.

AIS ANNOUNCES 2010 VISION ON TELECOMS INDUSTRY INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT “ECOSYSTEM,”

2010-01-24T04:24:00.001-08:00

AIS ANNOUNCES 2010 VISION ON TELECOMS INDUSTRY INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT “ECOSYSTEM,” COOPERATION, DEPENDENCE AND GROWTH TOGETHER FOR HIGHEST BENEFIT OF THAI PEOPLE

AIS announces 2010 Vision on Telecoms Industry, introducing the concept Ecosystem - the ecosystem of communication world gearing towards synergy, dependence and growth together, delivering highest benefits to every group of Thai consumers, riding the trend of communication technology convergence featuring “Total Communication.”

The management team of Advanced Info Service (Public) Co., Ltd., led by Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai, Vice Chairman Of The Board Mr. Wichian Mektrakarn, CEO and Mr. Somchai Lertsuttiwong, EVP Marketing, co-host the public conference on the overall picture of telecoms industry and AIS direction emphasizing orchestrated cooperation with alliance just like the ecosystem.

In 2009, the telecom usage of Thai people recorded a significant growth, particularly in mobile Internet, wireless Internet and Broadband Internet, reflecting consumer behavior obviously switching to convergence service. They use mobile phone to call, connect Internet, watch TV, download music, upload photos or videos to Social Network and Chat through BlackBerry. This formulates a “Total Communication.” AIS has developed service in tandem with such behavior. Besides retaining No. 1 Mobile Operator, today AIS plays increasing roles as;

- Largest distribution channel of Digital Music with over 20 million downloads, 60% of which represent the download through Call Center.

- Largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) with over 6.5 million Mobile Phone Internet users

- Pioneer of Lifestyle for consumers in entering the experience of Mobile Email, Social Networking through Smart Phone such as BlackBerry occupying over 100,000 users.

- Market builder for Wireless Internet by launching AIS Aircard serving over 300,000 customers, or over 20% of Internet use in Thailand.

Mr. Somprasong unveiled “For the year 2010, demand and usage behavior will remain the same as in the past year. More concentration and enhancement will be placed in Mobile Internet, Broadband and download service via wireless network. To deliver services that completely meet demand, every part associated with telecommunication industry need to capitalize on its best resource to work in harmony and proceed together in the orchestrated uniform, depend on each other and promote Seamless Connection featuring Ecosystem – the Ecosystem of communication world in an effort to creating collaborative service providing optimal solution for consumers as well as contributing to the reinforcement of country’s telecoms industry.

With regard to the composition of Ecosystem, Mr. Wichian added “Initially, we look into 5 integral parts including Device, Customer Assistant, Content Partners, Solution Partners and Business Alliances from a broad spectrum of industry. The collaboration incorporated by the proposed concept is believed to liberate the frame of telecommunication services, give unexpected experience from best quality, enhance business management efficiency and render privileges upgrading living standard of consumers.”

“However, to ensure the unsurpassed services provided by strong commitment, network quality serves as the key and solid fundamentals. Over the past 20 years, AIS has ceaselessly developed its network recognized as “Most trusted network” as a result of service coverage coming with network quality as well as convergence of Wireless and Wired-line technology. Lately, AIS is considered the only Mobile Operator offering widest 3G service area following the cooperation with TOT (Public) Co., Ltd., the Concession Owner. AIS customers have options to access wireless Internet service via EDGE/GPRS network embracing nationwide coverage and 3G of 900 MHz and 2100 MHz frequency”

Mr. Somchai stressed the benefits of consumers “When the fundamentals are well prepared, the functionalities based on Ecosystem will continue productively, shape service formats and fuel the growth of telecommunications industry due to the harmonious and balanced living of all parties. For example, the marketing of communication device will include not only the sourcing of superb handsets for customers, but also the synergy between Service Providers tailoring service packages and customized contents as well as solutions that bring ultimately exclusive experiences. This exemplifies how the working concept is materialized.”

In the AIS Vision 2010, AIS introduces some services from the cooperation with Partners, such as;

1. Nokia N900, the latest Smart Phone from Nokia that allows AIS customers to gain great experience from Internet Application and bundling package

2. BlackBerry New Bold, the latest innovation from BlackBerry, available for reservation today

3. AIS 3G Aircard 7 Mbps, the fastest Wireless Broadband connection to the Internet

4. AIS App Store connecting AIS customers to the unlimited world of Contents coming with a broad array of Applications to choose from
5. MSN SIM, a direct connection to MSN from your handsets
6. Mobile Pay wave Actual creating Contactless Mobile Payment Service
7. Variety Superior Privilege from various exclusive for AIS customer only

“As the Total Telecoms Service Leader, we strongly believe in the power of all players related to this industry and will be ready to play an intermediary role in rendering best services from the collaboration under the concept Ecosystem to every group of consumers. Not only will this paradigm shift benefit people, but also propel sustainable growth of Thai telecommunications industry.”

NETGEAR Collaborates with Intel to Launch TV Adapter for Intel Wireless Display, an Intuitive and Easy Way to View Entire Laptop Screen

2010-01-17T04:39:00.001-08:00

NETGEAR Collaborates with Intel to Launch TV Adapter for Intel Wireless Display, an Intuitive and Easy Way to View Entire Laptop Screen on HDTV Wirelessly

Networking Leader Introduces Push2TV, Device that Transforms How Consumers View, Share and Enjoy Digital Content on the Big Screen TV

LAS VEGAS - January 11, 2010 - NETGEAR, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today announced the launch of NETGEAR Push2TV (PTV1000), a small device that enables consumers to display their entire laptop computer screens on their big screen HDTVs - wirelessly, effortlessly and intuitively.

Compatible with select laptops featuring Intel Wireless Display and powered by the all new 2010 Intel Core Processor Family, Push2TV (http://www.netgear.com/ptv) transforms the living room HDTV into a huge, remote monitor without the need for any unsightly cables stretching across the room. Slightly larger than a deck of cards, Push2TV enables consumers to wirelessly beam practically everything from their notebook computer to the big screen TV, including media stored on the laptop, content from the home network, and videos streamed from the most popular websites.

"Our customers are increasingly dependent on their laptops, and they tell us they're looking for easy ways to migrate the content of their computers to their TVs more freely," said Jason Bonfig, vice president of computing at Best Buy. "NETGEAR Push2TV is unique in how it seamlessly scales the viewing and browsing experience of the notebook PC to the TV along with an easy, intuitive way to connect and operate."

The industry has taken several approaches to connect the TV to the Internet: network-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players; Digital Media Adapters (DMAs) and set-top boxes that connect to the Internet via the home network; dedicated home theater PCs or notebooks connected to the TV via HDMI or other cables; and other PC-to-TV applications. However, these solutions have multiple limitations, such as the websites they can access and the video codecs and file formats that they can play.

"Consumers have been frustrated by the existing solutions so we focused on ease of use during the design and collaboration process with NETGEAR," said Erik Reid, director mobile marketing, Intel. "The result is that Intel Wireless Display, available on select laptops featuring Intel's all new 2010 Core family processors, and the NETGEAR Push2TV adapter have taken the hassle out of sharing content, so consumers can sit back, relax and enjoy the content on their large screen TVs."

The NETGEAR Push2TV adapter combined with Intel Wireless Display is a very simple extension of the browsing and viewing experience on the PC, significantly reducing the website restrictions that consumers currently experience with competing solutions. Consumers will be able to access the vast majority of the content on their computer or from the Internet and view it on their TV. Connecting a laptop to Push2TV is as simple as point and click. The easy and intuitive interface enables a protected connection and hides all the networking complexity found in currently available solutions. Thus, the consumer benefits from a fully integrated PC-to-TV solution without having to plug any external components or dongles into their new notebook computer, becoming a networking expert, or learning any new user interface.

The total solution consists of NETGEAR Push2TV connected to the TV and Intel Wireless Display preloaded on new-generation notebooks powered Processor Family. Intel Wireless DisplayÔby the 2010 Intel Core captures fully rendered display frames in real-time and sends the compressed video and audio directly to Push2TV via Intel My WiFi technology, the industry's first commercially available Wi-Fi Personal Area Network (PAN) or Wi-Fi Direct solution, creating a protected short-hop high-bandwidth wireless connection between the laptop and Push2TV. When compared to other solutions where the TV adapter connects to the home network or gateway, Push2TV reduces the wireless bandwidth overhead by up to 50 percent.

"We are delighted to partner with Intel to be the first to bring Intel Wireless Display to the living room, providing customers with what is truly the easiest way to extend the PC viewing experience to the TV - wirelessly, seamlessly and over a protected link," said Vivek Pathela, vice president and general manager of NETGEAR home and consumer products. "The combination of our Push2TV with a new-generation PC with Intel Wireless Display means consumers no longer have to crowd around their PCs to experience the infinite stream of Internet content with their friends and family."

With a sleek black minimalist design, a very intuitive setup and Wi-Fi technology, Push2TV quickly beams the laptop screen to the HDTV over a protected link. Therefore, customers are able to easily access almost any content they would normally be able to access on their PCs.* More specifically, with Push2TV and a new generation notebook powered by the 2010 Intel Core Processor Family connected to the Internet and/or home network, consumers can:

Sit back, relax and enjoy music, pictures and videos from their laptop, home network or the Internet in HD on their big screen TVs and home entertainment systems; Surf the web from the comfort of their couches, accessing many of today's online movies and TV shows and going anywhere a web browser will take them; Easily move from room to room or take Push2TV on vacation or business trips due to its small, lightweight form factor. Pricing and Availability

Backed by a one-year warranty and 24/7 technical support, the new NETGEAR Push2TV (PTV1000) will be available in the US later this month. Intel and NETGEAR are also working together to deliver this exciting new technology to additional geographies and distribution channels later in 2010. Product details on NETGEAR Push2TV can be found at http://www.netgear.com/ptv.

TrueMove Teams Up With Japan’s Mediaseek to Launch QR Code Reader Application in Thailand Paving the way to a new TrueMove 3G experience

2009-12-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

To reinforce its position as Thailand’s most innovative service provider, TrueMove today officially launched QR Code technology in Thailand in collaboration with Mediaseek, Japan’s leading QR Code company. This new innovation will pave the way towards 3G services in the future and give customers a new experience in accessing content and services. With TrueMove’s “Fun Living Lifestyle” concept, Thai consumers can now easily access content via camera phones such as music downloads or watch TV and receive special privileges. The QR Code opens a new era of exciting Interactive marketing campaigns and unique promotions. Learn more about QR Code and TrueMove 3G and get a chance to win an iPhone 3G S by visiting www.truemove.com/3G from December 15, 2009 – January 15, 2010. Consumers can now experience QR Code and download the free QR Code Reader application onto their camera phones by visiting http://m.truelife.com

The QR Code (also known as a matrix code) is a two-dimensional bar code that a mobile phone equipped with special software can read using its camera, a process called mobile tagging. Information embedded in the QR code such as a URL can then launch the mobile phone’s browser, establishing a hardlink to any location on the Internet. By simply taking a photo of a QR Code on a poster, advertisement, display or practically anywhere, TrueMove customers can automatically access related content over the Internet via their mobile phones without having to type the necessary details or the URL.

According to Mr. Piroon Paireepairit, Director, Multimedia Services Content & Marketing, True Corporation Plc., “Our company’s exclusive collaboration with Mediaseek brings one of the most popular and trendy mobile phone applications in Japan to the Thai market. TrueMove, Thailand’s leading communications innovator, is delighted to offer Thai consumers the opportunity join the QR Code revolution under the concept of ‘Fun Living Lifestyle.’ They will be able to access content such as news updates and music downloads as well as watch TV or music videos and receive special privileges easily by using their camera phones to scan QR Codes from marketing materials such as posters, leaflets and point-of-purchase displays. TrueMove has already started using QR Codes to promote its 3G trial service, and customers will enjoy an increasing number of special benefits as we integrate QR Codes into a variety of other lifestyle applications.”

“Mediaseek is a fully-integrated IT solution provider company, and our QR Code reader software holds the number one share in the Japanese mobile phone market,” said Mr. Naoki Nishio, President & CEO of Mediaseek Inc. “We have exclusive rights for the “i-nigma” service, which is based on the most widely-used mobile barcode reader in Japan and has been redesigned for overseas mobile phone handsets. We are pleased to partner with TrueMove to offer our breakthrough QR Code technology to Thai consumers.”

Developed in Japan, QR Codes are very popular among Japanese mobile phone users for marketing campaigns, recording data such as addresses or providing information for almost any other purpose. QR Codes can also activate SMS for response messages, offering a new level of interactive mobile marketing. QR Code reader software can run on all major mobile phone platforms.

To experience using QR Codes, TrueMove customers can download the free reader software onto their camera phones by visiting http://m.truelife.com and participate in the special marketing campaign to win an iPhone 3G S at www.truemove.com/3G from December 15, 2009 – January 15, 2010.

QR Code® is registered trademarks of Denso Wave Incorporated in Japan and other countries.

TeliaSonera and Huawei Launch World’s Fastest Commercial Mobile Broadband Network with Huawei’s 4G/LTE Solutions

2009-12-16T18:23:00.001-08:00

TeliaSonera and Huawei Launch World’s Fastest Commercial Mobile Broadband Network with Huawei’s 4G/LTE Solutions

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, and TeliaSonera, the largest telecoms operator in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, today jointly announced the deployment of the world’s first LTE commercial network in Oslo, Norway. These 4G services offer maximum speeds of up to 100 Mb/s and are approximately 10 times faster than existing 3G networks.

TeliaSonera’s customers will be the first in the world to enjoy simultaneous mobile broadband services such as high definition (HD) video conferencing in mobile environments and a variety of HD video programs via multiple terminal devices; applications that cannot be realized in current 3G networks.

Mr. Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services TeliaSonera, said: “We are very proud to be the first operator in the world to offer our customers 4G services. Thanks to the successful cooperation with Huawei, we can offer 4G to our customers in Oslo earlier than originally planned.”

As a leading provider of end-to-end 4G/LTE solutions, Huawei delivered both network infrastructures and services to TeliaSonera, such as access network, core network, operation support system, and network planning and optimization. Its field proven fourth-generation base stations and SAE (System Architecture Evolution) solution ensure the stability of the network and enable fast deployment.

Yu Chengdong, President of Huawei Europe, said: “In partnership with TeliaSonera, Huawei began this journey eleven months ago to introduce the world’s most advanced mobile broadband technology to the residents of Oslo. This milestone, which was achieved in a short period of time, reflects Huawei’s unwavering commitment towards accelerating the commercialization of LTE/SAE solutions. Operators such as TeliaSonera, are now able to to fully realize economic benefits from the many new applications that can only be made possible with ultra broadband services.”

To date, Huawei has constructed over 25 LTE commercial and trial networks and has made more than 3,300 LTE/SAE contributions to 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project).
About Huawei

Huawei is a leader in providing next generation telecommunications networks, and now serves 36 of the world’s top 50 operators, along with over one billion users worldwide. The company is committed to providing innovative and customized products, services and solutions to create long-term value and growth potential for its customers.

Huawei to Commercially Launch 56Mb/s HSPA+ Solution in 2010

2009-12-15T04:57:00.001-08:00

The latest solution enables download speeds of up to 56Mb/s through software upgrades alone

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, today announced its plans to launch a 56Mb/s HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Plus) commercial solution in 2010. Huawei’s latest solution will enable operators to offer download speeds that are double what is available today.

The 56Mb/s HSPA+ solution, featuring multi-carrier and MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) technologies, was successfully demonstrated in Beijing this week at P&T/Wireless & Networks Comm China 2009.

“Advances in mobile broadband, particularly record breaking data speeds and capacity of HSPA networks, have had a profound impact on the telecom industry and demonstrate the enormous potential of UMTS/HSPA,” said Wan Biao, President of Wireless, Huawei. “This 56Mb/s HSPA+ solution will enable operators to maintain their industry leading positions and provide consumers with an evermore attractive mobile broadband experience.”

This industry-leading solution allows operators currently using Huawei’s fourth generation and 38xx series base stations to smoothly evolve their legacy networks to 56Mb/s HSPA+ networks via software upgrades alone, and deploy leading edge networks at significant cost savings that ultimately protect their long term investment.

As a leading provider of end-to-end mobile broadband solutions, Huawei has deployed over 10 commercial HSPA+ network contracts, as of August 2009. In Asia Pacific, Huawei has deployed a commercial 28Mb/s HSPA+ network, and, along with leading operators including Japan EMOBILE, Singapore StarHub, Vodafone Turkey and Hong Kong PCCW, Huawei has launched five commercial HSPA+ networks which support downlink speeds of up to 21Mb/s.

Hitachi Data Systems Kickstarts Virtual Conference on Cloud Technologies

2009-12-15T03:50:00.000-08:00

Opportunity to win exciting prizes through ‘Sharing Cloud Innovation’ video competition launched in conjunction with virtual conference

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, launched a state-of-the-art virtual conference to drive awareness and education on their cloud strategy. This announcement comes on the heels of the recent launch of new agile cloud solution that combines best-in-class technologies from Hitachi Data Systems.

Addressing the challenge of ever-growing unstructured data, the virtual conference— accessed through www.hds.com/go/virtual-show—is an initiative that highlights the integrated, yet open, storage technologies evolving in cloud computing today. These technologies span a variety of workloads to support the diverse user applications. The conference demonstrates the effectiveness of the Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) that provides essential security, reliability and multitenancy for cloud infrastructures. The technologies enable companies to adopt cloud services at their own pace.

The virtual conference will be operational for a period of four months starting from now. It takes visitors through a series on information pit-stops that acquaint them with Hitachi Data Systems technologies associated with cloud and HCP. Comprising interactive presentations by experts at Hitachi Data Systems, product demonstrations, and case studies, the virtual conference addresses the synergies of both cloud computing and HCP in achieving integration of storage management, lowering cost of ownership and increasing operational simplicity.

“Cloud computing - a natural progression from virtualization technology - is emerging as a key strategy for driving IT transformation in 2010. End-to-end server and storage virtualization and management, coupled with file and content services are going to be key enablers for a comprehensive cloud strategy,” said Ravi Rajendran, Vice President and General Manager for ASEAN, Hitachi Data Systems. “By leveraging Hitachi Data Systems’ Agile Cloud Portfolio, we are able to guide customers and service providers toward a public or private cloud environment that is cost-effective, scalable and secure.”

A novel social media campaign titled ‘Sharing Cloud Innovation’ is being launched in conjunction with the conference. Targeted at Facebook users, ‘Sharing Cloud Innovation’ is a video competition for individuals to submit a one-minute video highlighting their portrayal of cloud computing in an innovative and inspiring way. The winning video will be selected on the basis of both its popularity and judges’ discretion. Facebook users can ask their friends to press ‘Like’ to the posted videos on the Hitachi Data Systems ‘Sharing Cloud Innovation’ Facebook webpage. The creator of the most “Liked’ Video coupled with the judges’ decision will win two return air tickets to Tokyo, Japan. The video competition will run on Facebook from now until end of January 2010.

“Cloud computing offers a viable alternative to traditional long term approaches to compute capacity consumption and investment. Most cloud methodologies are not in tune with heterogeneous infrastructures of enterprises. The results are poorly utilized data silos, a situation that organizations tried to avoid in the first place. Our focus is on enabling a dynamic cloud environment that virtualizes all existing storage resources into a single, agile and services oriented infrastructure that reduces storage costs, mitigates risk and is easily managed in the face of changing demands. We hope that through the virtual conference, we can educate our customers and IT community at large on the benefits of this technology and how it can deliver benefits for a variety of industries,” said Sunil Chavan, Director, Content & File Services, Asia Pacific of Hitachi Data Systems.

Viewers registering for the conference can leave the questions, comments or messages on every presentation, video, and webcast that forms a part of the virtual conference. Attendees can also download content such as datasheets, whitepapers, and solution brochures from the interactive site.
Hitachi Cloud Customer Benefits

With sophisticated storage virtualization, Hitachi Data Systems enables a secure, multitenant environment that ensures privacy among various constituents within a shared infrastructure that can be managed from a single command suite. Supporting a variety of protocols and third party technology, enterprises and service providers can further leverage existing investments in hardware and software and allow legacy devices to inherit cloud attributes, thereby preventing cloud from becoming just another silo and eliminating the need for a complete refresh or update of hardware and software or the need to rewrite applications.

As a result, Hitachi Data Systems cloud solutions enable enterprise customers to choose the best possible technologies to address their challenges at their desired pace and budget resources. By offering an integrated set of cloud solutions, Hitachi Data Systems can deliver an agile cloud infrastructure that empowers customers to look at their existing IT infrastructure in new ways, enabling them to:
Provide efficient IT management and increase productivity through automation
Meet changing performance, availability and storage needs
Ensure security in a shared environment
Cost effectively improve data protection
Make information easy to locate and use, anywhere at any time
New Hitachi Content Platform and Cloud Enabling Technologies

Hitachi Data Systems best-in-class Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and award-winning Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage systems provide a single, virtual pool of storage with a host of key cloud attributes which can be provisioned against all types of IT services on demand. These services can be delivered via a number of fully integrated solutions including the recently announced Hitachi NAS Platform for file services, the Hitachi Data Discovery Suite for collaboration and search and the new Hitachi Content Platform for cloud storage, archiving, business continuity, creating content depots, consolidation and many other services. The Hitachi Content Platform also includes a number of advanced features that enable the solution to address a variety of challenges beyond the long term preservation of business critical information, such as:

Enabling Customers to Evolve Cloud at Their Own Pace: The new Hitachi Content Platform will serve enterprise content storage needs as well as public and private cloud environments within a single optimized cluster. Customers can adopt the cloud technologies based on their business needs, and they do not need to purchase another storage island for their cloud solution.

Segregating Data Securely: By providing a multitenant architecture, object versioning, retention and disposition services, encryption, immutability, high availability, search capabilities and much more, Hitachi Content Platform helps IT organizations securely segregate data within different namespaces to prevent unauthorized access and provide different service level agreements and features for different data sets.

Intelligently Tiering Data: Customers will be able to manage data growth from higher tier storage to a storage platform with features and capabilities that go beyond the traditional ‘archive’ and enable intelligent content storage for a number of use cases.

True offers the latest high-speed mobile networking services at’ GreenSpace by Greyhound’ beer park

2009-11-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

Patrons can enjoy wireless freedom with 4 Mbps WiFi by TrueMove and 7.2 Mbps TrueMove 3G

True Corporation Pcl and Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (TAPB) have joined forces to offer unlimited online fun by installing TrueMove 3G and WiFi wireless access points at the ‘GreenSpace by Greyhound’ beer park at Zen World Tower, CentralWorld. The latest generation of telecommunication standards for mobile networking enables members to keep in touch, via their mobile handsets, with their friends online or upload their photos of Bangkok’s panoramic view from the beer park located on the top three floors of the tower building.

GreenSpace patrons can now update their impressions timely on Facebook or Twitter through TrueMove WiFi which runs at a maximum speed of 4 Mbps or TrueMove 3G which runs at up to 7.2 Mbps, 4 to 35 times faster than the previous 2G system.

A selection of WiFi cards are made available at the True booth set up at the ‘GreenSpace by Greyhound’. The beer park, which opens from 18.00 – 24.00 hrs, operates from November to December 2009 on Floors 18-20 of Zen World Tower @ Central World.

IBM Thailand launches LotusLive

2009-11-13T00:05:00.000-08:00

       IBM Thailand has launched its latest cloud-based offerings called LotusLive that brings web-based email, instant messaging, meetings, collaboration, social networking and project management to users over the Internet while keeping the best of enterprise grade security and privacy.
       Jadesada Kraisingkorn, country manager IBM Software Group in Thailand,explained that IBM is playing at many levels in the cloud, from the actual hardware infrastructure, its CloudBurst management with flexible allocation and the top layer of solutions which is Lotus Live.
       Unlike pure software-as-a-service vendors, IBM Lotus can deliver traditional on-premise,appliance (hardware preloaded with software) or cloud services.
       Lotus Live delivers solutions in three key areas. The first group is messaging (email and instant messaging, called SameTime) and content management;second is communication and social networking, the art of linking people to people within a big organisation not just through work flow; and third is integration with corporate applications.
       IBM stresses that while Lotus Live is not the first cloud email service, it is an enterprise-grade cloud email service with a strong focus on ownership of data,security and integration with the rest of the organisation.
       Lotus Live Engage allows users to log in for meetings over the Internet where they can share screens and dashboards.Engage is a development of IBM's internal BlueHouse which was once showcased as a Facebook for the enterprise.
       One of its strengths is the concept of guests. It is possible to give access to certain pages to outsiders without having to pay if they work on the project where they can share in collaboration and activities related to the project. Engage is integrated into work flow with meeting details kept along with transcripts and to-do lists on what was agreed from the meeting.
       Then there is Lotus Live Events which is more one-way and focused on training and seminars.
       The modules are built around Lotus Live Notes/iNotes which has email and calendaring and is integrate with all the other modules.
       The big difference compared to other web-based office solutions is that Lotus Live has the concept of roles. In a typical organisation, the secretary of the boss will have her boss's password, which is very dangerous. In Lotus Live it is possible to delegate to the secretary such that she can read and create only but cannot delete, and any email sent out will be tagged sent on behalf of.
       Unlike the paid-for competition, Lotus Live does not do data mining on user data and one of the spokespersons urged anyone using a certain free for up to 25 user competitor (clearly Google Apps)to check their fine print.
       In January, IBM announced a partnership with salesforce.com that will turn Lotus Live activities into Salesforce opportunities where the progress of a sales lead can me monitored from Lotus Live's dashboards. Other partnerships exist with Skype for click to call and LinkedIn where files can be shared with people on linked in easily.
       IBM Thailand is aiming the package at SMEs, selling it through partners and offering them IBM technology at an affordable price.

CALL TO REQUIRE THAI-MADE EQUIPMENT FOR 3G ROLL-OUT

2009-11-08T06:09:00.000-08:00

       The national telecom watchdog yesterday was urged to include a requirement in the licence-auction guidelines to use locally made equipment in part of the third-generation network rollout. Former deputy transport minister Pinij Charusombat said otherwise only foreign suppliers would benefit fully from the network investment.
       Pinij made the suggestion during a seminar in Bangkok entitled "3G and the Development of the Thai Capital Market", hosted by the Capital Market Academy.
       He said this would enable local manufacturers to share in the benefits. Otherwise, Thais would gain only 20 per cent of the return from the 3G-network investment, with the rest going to foreign telecom-equipment suppliers. Although one of the banned Thai Rak Thai Party MPs, Pinij is believed to be a de-facto leader of the Puea Pandin Party.
       He said veteran telecom operators should not be allowed to bid for the 3G 2.1-gigahertz licences, but rather only new entrants, which would promote real market competition.
       One of two panellists, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck, said the auction for the four 3G licences would spark huge investment. Each of the four winners will spend an estimated Bt50 billion on their network roll-out during the initial phase, thus encouraging investment and creating jobs.
       The other panellist, NTC member Sudharma Yoonaidharma, said the NTC should first finish the main rules regulating the market in the post-3G era before granting the licences.
       But he said the licences should be issued soon, to give telecom operators time to prepare for rolling out their 3G networks before their concessions ended. All private telecom operators' networks belong to their concession owners - TOT and CAT Telecom - under "built-transfer-operate" arrangements.
       Stock Exchange of Thailand president Patareeya Benjapholchai said during the opening of the seminar that the combined market capitalisation of listed telecom firms was about Bt500 billion, accounting for 10.88 per cent of the combined market capitalisation of all listed firms.
       In a separate matter, securities houses yesterday downgraded telecommunications stocks in the face of a possible further delay to the NTC's plan to auction the four 3G licences. During a meeting on Wednesday, economic ministers asked the NTC to consult with the Council of State about whether it had full authority to grant the new spectrum before proceeding with the auction plan. The watchdog agreed to do so.
       The securities houses said the possible delay had affected the attractiveness of shares of three listed telecom operators: Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Corp, parent of True Move.
       A Finansa Securities analyst recommended "sell" for True shares and shares remained "buy", thanks to a high dividend yield.
       The analyst said telecommunications operators hoped 3G would drive their earnings growth. Without the licences, their earnings growth would not be as attractive for investors and stakeholders over the next three years.
       An analyst at UOB Kay Hian Securities (Thailand) said that if the 3G-licence auction were postponed by six months to a year, operating costs would be affected. The licences are expected to reduce costs at least 10 per cent.
       The NTC is expected to auction the licences next February. Many parties believe they will pave the way for the telecom concessionaires to migrate customers from the state concessions to the licensees, in order to save on regulatory costs.
       Each of them pays about 25 per cent of their revenue on average as their concession fee, while the annual 3G-licence fee will cost 6.5 per cent of revenue.
       Similar to Finansa, the UOB analyst also recommended "sell" for True shares and "hold" for DTAC but maintained a "buy" recommendation for AIS. AIS< DTAC and True all closed lower yesterday. DTAC declined 4.58 per cent to Bt36.50, AIS 1.17 per cent to Bt84.25 and True 2.79 per cent Bt2.79.

iPHONE ARRIVES IN CHINA WITHOUT KEY FEATURE

2009-11-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

       Apple's iPhone is making its long-awaited formal debut in the world's most populous mobile-phone market, without a key feature and at higher prices than widely available black-market models.
       Apple's local service provider, China Unicom, hopes the iPhone will give it an edge against giant rival China Mobile, the world's biggest phone company by number of subscribers.
       Unicom was to start selling iPhones equipped for third-generation (3G) services last week at 2,000 stores in areas as far-flung as Tibet. Chinese news reports said Unicom hoped to sell 5 million iPhones in three years, but the company declined to confirm that.
       Unicom's first iPhones lack WiFi, a possible handicap with sophisticated, demanding Chinese buyers. The technology, a key part of the iPhone's appeal, allows owners in other markets to use wireless networks in cafes and offices to download e-mail and the latest applications, free of charge.
       "There's going to be a perception that the phone they have is 'dumbed down' from the one that somebody has in California," said Duncan Clark, the chairman of Beijing-based technology-research firm BDA China.
       "We've seen before that Chinese consumers don't like to be treated like second-class citizens."
       Apple and Unicom could also face competition from an unusual source: unlocked iPhones brought in from abroad that have WiFi.
       There are already an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million such phones in China using China Moile's 3G service that allows Internet access and other features.
       Unicom's prices range from 4,999-6,999 yuan (Bt24,500 to Bt34,300) for the high-end, 32-gigabyte iPhone 3GS. That is 20-per-cent more than the 5,700 yuan charged by merchants at Chinese street markets for a 3GS with WiFi.
       The iPhone's awkward, delayed entry into China reflects the regulatory and technical hudles of a fast-changing market where other global technology companies have struggled to establish themselves.
       Unicom's iPhones lack WiFi because it was temporarily banned by Beijing, which was promoting a rival Chinese system, BDA said. The ban was relaxed in May after manufacturing had begun.
       A Unicom spokesman, YiDifei, said the company hoped to have WiFi in the next batch of phones.
       "We are talking with apple and expect the problem to be solved by the end of this year," Yi said.
       The iPhone debuted in the United States in June 2007, but its formal arrival in China was delayed as Apple negotiated with service providers. Chinese media said the talks were snagged on disagreements about how revenue should be divided.
       China has more than 650 million mobile-phone accounts despite an average annual income of only US$3,000 (Bt100,000) per person. Consumers trade in phones as often as several times a year to obtain the latest models and features.
       China Unicom has 143 million modile accounts, which would be an impressive figure in any other market but lags far behind China's Mobile's 508 million accoutns.
       Global technology companies that dominate other markets have struggled to obtain a foothold in China. Search engine Google has less than 30 per cent of the market, against more than 60 per cent for local rival Baidu. Yahoo turned over its Chinese operation to a local partner after failing to expand its market share.
       China's state-owned phone companies were restructured by the government into three groups last year in hopes of reviving competition after the explosive popularity of mobile services turned China Mobile into a behemoth.

Magnificent seven

2009-11-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

       In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
       Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
       Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
       Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
       Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
       The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
       The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
       Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
       The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
       The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.

TOT, CAT TOLD TO FOCUS ON STRENGTHS

2009-10-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

       The state-enterprise administrator has suggested that TOT and CAT Telecom focus on what they do best, providing telecom network services, instead of competing in the retail cellular market.
       Kulit Sombatsiri, deputy director of the State Enterprise Policy Committee, said the Finance Ministry had clearly established that TOT and CAT are to be the state's mechanism of providing and developing the country's basic telecom infrastructure.
       Headded that both entities should focus on their areas of expertise. TOT has years of experience in providing a fixed-line telecom network, therefore it should mainly focus on further developing broadband and fibreoptic networks. CAT has been the primary provider of overseas call services, therefore it should focus on further enhancing this market. He said both state agencies should review their services to see if they can perform better than the private sector.
       Kulit made the remarks during a seminar "The Survival Direction of the Country's Telecommunications Industry", hosted yesterday by the Senate's science and communications technology committee. The seminar is part of the committee's plan to find ways to help TOT and CAT improve their competitiveness.
       Anant Worathitipong, vice chairman of the panel, said that TOT and CAT should make their minds up whether they want to concentrate on the country's network infrastructure or compete with the private sector. it would be difficult to be successful in both.
       Poomjai Attanant, director of the Infrastructure Project Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), added that both agencies should also be working on plans on how to fully utilise the existing network assets worth a combined Bt300 billion after concessions end in the next few years.
       TOT's senior executive vice president Kittipong Tameyapradit said TOT was ready to be a network provider. It has allowed interested companies to propose to lease its upcoming 3G network in greater Bangkok to provide retail services.
       However, he want the government to amend the relevant operation and procurement regulations to enable TOT to work faster and operate on a more efficient basis. Kulit said TOT and CAT could develop their own flexible procurement regulations and submit them for approval of the Office of the Auditor-General.
       CAT senior executive vice president Kittipong Mekvichitseang said CAT had been improving its operating efficiency to be able to compete with private competitors, but its main abstacle was inflexible procurement regulations.
       He added that TOT and CAT might experience problems making profits if they limit their roles to merely leasing the networks. Therefore, both agencies should do both-provide the network services and compete in the retail cellular sector.
       Weera Burankitcharoen, a subcommitee member of the Senate's science and communications panel, said the government should amend the regulations controlling TOT and CAT to allow them to fully compete with private companies.
       It has to ensure that the appointment of their board members and chief executives is free from political interference, he added.

OBSTACLE COURSE AHEAD OF NTC ON 3G LICENSING

2009-10-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

       The national telecom regulator faces a host of obstacles that could derail its plan to auction four 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences in December.
       One of the hurdles is whether the National Telecommunications Commission has the authority to grant the licences.
       Recently Pornchai Meemak, a former member of the TOT labour union, filed a lawsuit against the NTC at the Central Administrative Court. He argued it was the authority of the broadcasting and telecom regulators to jointly allocate the new spectrum licences, and not that of the NTC alone.
       The court has yet to accept the case, but Pornchai said his move suggested the NTC could face a spate of lawsuits if it pressed ahead with the auction of the 3G licences.
       The question of NTC's licensing authority has haunted the watchdog since 2005, when the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the seven seats on the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), citing unconstitutionality.
       The frequency allocation law mandates that a joint quorum of the NTC and the NBC is needed to draw up the telecom and broadcasting spectrum table and prescribe the use of the spectra.
       In 2006, the watchdog consulted the Council of State over whether it has the authority to grant the new spectra without the NBC. The council said the NTC might be able to do so by referring to the spectrum table of the International Telecom Union in drawing its own table.
       However, the Lawyers Council of Thailand recently pointed out that the council's ruling was delivered in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, which mandates the establishment of a new and single broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
       The establishment of the single watchdog has therefore added a new question of whether it is more appropriate for the NTC to let the new entity grant the new spectrum licences.
       The NTC plans to consult with the Council of State again on the question of its licensing authority.
       Moreover, it has been suggested that it would be more appropriate for the NTC to wait for its four new members to take office first before it proceeds with the auction.
       The two NTC member selection panels recently completed the processes of selecting a combined eight candidates to replace the four incumbent commissioners. The Senate might be able to appoint four of them to the NTC seats before the parliamentary session ends in November.
       One commissioner, Artorn Chandavimol, resigned from the post before his term ended. Three other NTC members were then balloted out from the seats in 2006 after three years in office, in accordance with the frequency allocation law. However, these three remain in office until they are replaced.
       Telecom industry observers said the new commissioners might ask to review or even delay the auction plan.
       The private and state sectors have also said the planned auction process and conditions would financially hurt TOT and CAT Telecom and favour cash-rich firms - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller players.
       One auction condition requires the bid winners to pay for the licences on a one-off basis, instead of by instalment. The NTC argues that the ability to pay in this way suggested a bidder's capacity to substantially develop a cash-hungry 3G business.
       TOT has strongly opposed the licensing, saying that it would pave way for the private mobile concessions to migrate subscribers from the existing concessions to the 3G licences in order to save on regulatory costs. This would lead to a decline in its concession revenue.
       TOT received Bt19 billion in concession fees from Advanced Info Service last year.
       A major point of contention is that the auction would pave the way for foreign state telecom firms that are major shareholders in Thai telecom operators to grab the precious 3G licences and dominate the Thai market.
       The NTC argued that it would refer to the Foreign Business Act and the Telecom Business Act when selecting the qualified 3G licence bidders. The two laws each limit foreign telecom companies' shareholdings in Thai telecom firms at 49 per cent.
       Another key criticism is that the bid winners, after spending heavily to get the licences in the auction, would later pass on the cost to 3G users by imposing high service charges.
       A telecom scholar has argued, however, that the NTC has the authority to set a maximum service fee.

CAT ANGRY OVER LAWSUIT, SET TO PULL CONCESSION FROM TRUE MOVE

2009-10-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

       CAT Telecom has threatened to terminate the concession contract of its private mobile concession True Move, citing lack of good faith and its recent filing of a lawsuit against CAT.

       CAT executive chairman Krisda Kaveeyarn said yesterday that under the concession contract, CAT could terminate the True Move concession if it caused any damage to the state concession owner.
       The state agency might also decide not to allow True Move to lease CAT's network for an additional five years after True Move's concession ends in the next four years. It might also disallow True Move from using its 850 MHz spectrum to provide 3G wireless broadband service on a trial basis, he added.
       True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC) have both provided the 3G service on their existing 850 MHz spectrum on a trial basis with permission from CAT.
       The threatening move from CATcame after True Move filed a civil case against CAT and also the state agency's two executives on September 24 to demand compensation of Bt50 million, citing that CAT had caused damage to True Move's image.
       True Move said CAT has declined to return its bank guarantee regarding the minimum concession fee it had paid to CAT during the past three years. The CAT declined to return such guarantee amount later makes four banks from which it regularly seek bank guarantees decline to continue to provide the bank guarantee to True Move this year for paying such concession revenue minimum guarantee to CAT.
       CAT explained it had to seize True Move's bank guarantee as the service provider had declined to pay the full concession fee to CAT and had instead deducted the interconnection fee. Therefore, CAT had seized the company's bank guarantee of Bt 350 million in 2006, Bt380 million in 2007, and Bt580 million in 2008. True Move has to pay the minimum concession fee guarantee of Bt640 million this year.
       CAT also held back DTAC's bank guarantee as DTAC had deducted the interconnection fee from the concession fee first before paying the remaining concession fee to CAT. But banks still provide bank guarantee to DTAC on the matter due to its healthy financial status.
       True Move's chief executive officer Supachai Chearavanont said the company has no intention to be in conflict with CAT but the company had to let the court decide the case for the good of both sides.
       Currently True Move is engaged in seven legal cases with CAT. Six of them are cases CAT has filed against True Move with the Arbitration Panel, while the one has been filed by True Move against CAT.
       The CAT board yesterday ordered the state agency's chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong to talk to True Move on how they could proceed with the cases.
       Among the cases CAT has filed against True Move is the telecom excise tax. In 2006, the Thaksin Shinawatra government issued an executive decree to order all private fixed-line operators and cellular operators to pay part of the concession fee as the excise tax first before paying the remaining concession fee amount to their state concession owners CAT and TOT. This affected the concession revenue of TOT and CAT as earlier they had gained the full concession fee amount from the private concessions. However, the next government terminated the telecom excise tax in 2007. CAT asked True Move to pay the concession fee of Bt6 billion, which is the amount the company paid as telecom excise tax.
       CAT senior executive Hansa Chivapruek said that the stage agency had already asked the Council of State in September to rule if it could allow private mobile concessionaires to offer the 3G service on commercial basis on their existing 850 MHz spectrum. If the Council of State rules it is permissible, CAT would allow True Move and DTAC to provide such service commercially.
       But Krisda said that as True Move has already filed a lawsuit against CAT for damaging its image, CAT might not support the company in the matter.
       "We don't want the company without good faith to do business with us," he added.

NTC TO SEEK COUNCIL OF STATE OPINION ON AUCTION

2009-10-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

       The national telecom regulator will consult the Council of State again over whether it has full legal authority to auction the 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences.
       The board of the National Telecommu-nications Commission took this decision late last week, its chairman Choochart Phrom-prasit said.
       Many private and state parties have questioned the NTC's authority to grant the 3G licences during the ongoing formation of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
       NTC member Sethaporn Cusripituck said the watchdog would continue to proceed with the second public hearing on the auction conditions.
       He declined to say, however, whether the NTC would put off the tentative auction schedule from the planned second week of December in order to wait for the Council of State's opinion.
       He said he was uncertain when the NTC could auction the licences and maybe all it could do was to publish the final auction details in the Royal Gazette after the second public hearing.
       "We're between a rock and a hard place. If we move to auction the licences, we might risk being sued. If we don't, we might face a charge of failing to follow the telecom master plan under which we are to award the 3G licences this year," he added.
       In 2006, the NTC consulted the Council of State for the first time on whether it could draw up a national frequency-allocation table and award new spectrum licences without waiting for the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to be set up.
       The council replied that the NTC might be able to refer to the frequency table of the International Telecommunication Union as a guideline for drawing up the spectrum table and allocating the spectra.
       Under the telecom law, both the NTC and the NBC must jointly create the national frequency-allocation table. But in 2005, the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the NBC seats, citing the unconstitutionality of the process.
       The Lawyers Council of Thailand last Thursday said the Council of State's first opinion was delivered to the NTC in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, under which the Article 47 determines the establishment of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
       Early this month, Baker & McKenzie, the legal adviser of True Corp, wrote to warn the NTC that its planned licence auction might be unconstitutional.
       A telecom industry observer said the NTC's weak point was its lack of legal adviser to counsel on the possible legal impact and shortcomings of the licence plan.
       Some state and private parties have said the watchdog's plan to grant licences by auction would favour cash-rich telecom operators - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller firms, and would fully pave the way for foreign firms to snatch the 3G licences, which are regarded as a national asset.

EXPERTS URGES FEWER, MORE EXPENSIVE 3G LICENCES

2009-10-11T02:13:00.001-07:00

       Telecom scholar Somkiat Tangkitvanich yesterday urged the national telecom regulator to award only a few third-generation 2.1-gigahertz licences and those at a high price.
       He said that way, the licensing would not be regarded by the public as a means to helping private telecom operators move away from state concession towards the licensing regime.
       Somkiat, vice president of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should auction off only a few licences, in order to ensure genuine bidding competition.
       It should also set a high auction price aimed at private telecom operators, which plan to migrate customers from the concessions to the licences to save on regulatory costs. Somkiat believes no newcomers will enter the bidding, only incumbent telecom operators.
       He cited analysts' reports that both state-concession owenrs TOT and CAT Telecom would earn a combined Bt150 billion to Bt180 billion in concession fees between now and the end of the concession period in six years.
       Both state agencies will lose some of this if their private concessionaires move to the licences.
       He made the comments during taping of the "Long Oey Yang Ngai" (How It Will End) Television programme on Channel 11. The other guest speaker on the programme was NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck.
       Sethaporn said the NTC's board might switch to auctioning only one or maybe even three licences if necessary, instead of four as planned now.
       The NTC board will finalise auction details at its meeting next Wednesday and put them to a second public hearing at the end of the month.
       Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.
       Private mobile-phone concessionaires pay about 20 per cent of their revenue in concession fees, while the annual 3G licences is estimated to cost them 6.5 per cent of revenue.
       But Somkiat said it did not have to be the case that a high auction price for a licence would prompt the winning bidders to pass that cost on to consumers later.
       The NTC could set a maximum service price.
       Moreover, if the 3G fee were too high, consumers would not use the service.
       He said capital used in the investment had no "nationality."
       What should however be scrutinised is whether the investment can provide the best service to customers.
       During the NTC's 3G public hearing last month, True Corp, parent of True Move, criticised the agency for ignoring the foreign-owernership issue in the 3G auction and said the NTC should not award the licences to foreign firms.
       True said the auction favoured larger firms over smaller ones.
       Somkiat quoted from a book that said often when national leaders felt themselves to be on shaky ground and could not address the problem head on, they fanned feelings of nationalism to boost their popularity.

       "Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.

NTC may lower bid price

2009-10-08T21:10:00.001-07:00

       The national telecom regulator's board might set a starting bid price for a 3G-2.1GHz-spectrum licence at lower than US$100 million (Bt3.33 billion), a source at the National telecommunications Commission (NTC) said.
       The source said that some commissioners proposed in the recent board meeting that the starting price range should be between $50 million and almost $100 million per licence.
       All the commissioners agreed that the starting bid should be different from the reserve price. The reserve price is the minimum amount the watchdog expects to gain from each of the auctioned licences.
       The board will convene next week to conclude the amount of the starting bid price and the reserve price, the source added.
       The NTC will auction four 3G licences.
       The NTC members have kept insisting that the overall licence cost would not be too high so as to avoid hurting the bidders financially.
       The NTC will hold the second public hearing on the conditions of auctioning the 3G licences at the end of this month. One topic is the contingency plan for the case in which the number of qualified bidders is less than or the same as the available licences. In this case, there would be no genuine competition in the auction.
       NTC deputy secretary-general Prasert Apipunya said the contingency plan had three optional measures: put off the auction; the NTC could set a fixed licence price at the auction time and award the licences to the bidders that can pay for them; or the NTC would reduce the number of available licences to promote real bidding competition.
       The NTC recently held the first mock-up auction to prepare potential bidders to understand the auction proces.s
       Advanced Info Service's chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS had hired consulting firm Detacon to advise its 3G-licence bidding. He said AIS won the licence bid in the mock-up auction. AIS targeted the licence with 15MHz bandwidth and "won" it after quoting $173 million.
       In the mock-up auction, the NTC set the starting price of the licence with 15MHz bandwidth at $150 million and the other three licences, each featuring 10MHz bandwidth, at $100 million.

NECTEC PROGRAMME DEVELOPS ELECTRONIC AIDS

2009-09-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

       The Assistive Technology Programme of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre has developed a road map gicing direction to its efforts to create equality for disabled people and increase their quality of life.
       Programme director Wantanee Phantachat said her organisation's work had been divided into four areas: mobility, communication, information- and communications-technology access and living independently.
       In the area of the mobility, the programme is researching and developing a leg prosthesis for people whose need extends to an artificial knee joint. Using reverse engineering, it expects to develop a prototype with the help of local partners and donduct clinical trials this year.
       The programme is also negotiating with potential private-sector partners who will be able to transfer knowledge in the process of developing the prosthesis as an industrial trial before developing it for commercial production whithin the next few years.
       "We expect the programme and the partnership to be able to produce a leg prosthesis that is affordable - perhaps half the price of international products," Wantanee said.
       She said in the second area, communication, the programme was negotiating with Chiang Mai University for development of clinical trials of a digital hearing aid that waks bundled with Bluetooth and microphone functions. The goal was to develop hearing aids for local people with hearing problems.
       "We are developing a digital hearing-aid device bundled with assistive hearing systems and Bluetooth tehcnology and expect it to be finished by the end of next year," Wantanee said.
       For people with learning disabilities, the programme is planning to develop an electronic device that incorporates wor prediction, spelling checks and a talking word processor. This will help children and people who have problems comprehending normal communications.
       Finally, in order to help disabled people live independent lives, the programme is developing environmental control units, or electronic devices that use infrared and radio frequencies to remotely switch home electrical appliances on and off and transmit alert or emergency calls to relatives, parents or neighbours in the case of accidents.
       As well, the programme is developing "telerahabilitation" for disabled people via the Internet. It is expected to be available in the near future.
       "We are working with partners to develop local assistive-technology devices that will reduce the costs of importing these products as well as helping disabled people to enjoy a better quality of life," Wantanee said.
       Earlier this year, the Nation Telecommunications Commission (NTC) signed a memorial of understanding with the Thailand Association for the Blind, implementing a project that will provide access to DaisyDigital Accessible Information. Callers to a four-digit telephone number will receive an automatic feed of DaisyDigital talking content. The project targets about 200,000 people with visual impariment and about 600,000 with reading disabilities.
       The memorandum also provides for training of trainers in the use of computers and information technology and in the production of media and content for the blind.

JUDGE BELIEVES TOT'S CASE AGAINST NTC SHOULD BE DISMISSED, SAYS SOURCE

2009-09-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

       The Central Administrative Court judge overseeing the TOT complaint against the national telecom regulator for violating the Telecom Act believes the case should be dismissed.
       A source yesterday said the judge felt the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) had complied with its regulations in ordering TOT to integrate - or "translate" - all of the new phone numbers of other networks into its network system.
       The judge yesterday read his opinion on the case to a quorum of judges, TOT, all six NTC members, NTC secretary-general Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn and representatives of True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC).
       The NTC members are the first defendants, Suranan is the second defendant and True Move and DTAC are the third defendants.
       Court procedure dictates the judge overseeing a case will read his opinion to a quorum of judges considering the case. They will deliver a verdict later, which can either uphold or differ from the opinion of the judge overseeing the case.
       The source said the court would deliver its verdict in the case on October 9.
       A telecom company needs all other operators to integrate, or "translate", its new numbers into their switching systems, so that the numbers are recognised by the other networks.
       The dispute began in January 2007, when DTAC asked the Central Administrative Court to issue an injunction against TOT because it refused to integrate each of the 1.5 million new phone numbers from DTAC - and True Move - into its network.
       TOT's refusal to register the new numbers means calls from TOT's telephones cannot reach the new numbers belonging to DTAC and True Move.
       The court later issued an injunction ordering TOT to connect its subscribers to DTAC's new phone users, in order to avoid problems for consumers. That ruling remains in effect until the case has been completely investigated or the court decides otherwise.
       At the same time, the NTC also ordered TOT to translate the new numbers into the state agency's system, prompting TOT to accuse the NTC of violating the Telecom Act.
       TOT said while the law required telecom licensees to allow other licensees access to their networks, TOT did not regard DTAC and True Move as NTC licensees.

Sound familiar?

2009-09-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

       Your TOT crossed its heart and hoped to die if it fails to have actual third-generation mobile phone service in a little corner of Bangkok before New Year's Eve; Vichien Narkseenuan, the firm's senior executive president for vice, said he expects to sign a deal Real Soon Now with a socalled mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that will carry the TOT service,although no names, please; Mr Vichien promised "about" 500,000 numbers would be available; real yuppiephone networks scoffed at the TOT offer to let them in on the deal, because they fear that if they rent a network now, the National Telecommunications Commission won't let them bid for a licence to run their own 3G services.
       Vichien Narkseenuan, the senior executive president of vice for your TOT ,said that the state monopoly plans to open a third-generation (3G) phone service with 100,000 numbers, and serving the entire country; TOT has no intention of building its own base stations,though, and will rent them from real phone companies; Mr Vichien forgot to mention when this nationwide 3G service might start for the lucky 100,000.
       The National Telecommunications Commission announced it will open public hearings on third generation phones next Monday; Prasert Aphipunya, secretary in charge of vice for the NTC, said you should bring along a large truck load of money if you want to start the bidding for licences, say,oh, somewhere around 10 billion-witha-"b" baht; after next weeks' hearing,there will be a notice in the Royal Gazette ,and actual bidding for four (and only four) available licences may open as early as December; rules on all of this should be up on the NTC's website by now at www.ntc.co.th.
       For the third time in a row, the strug-gling TT&T company won a multibillion-baht lawsuit against your TOT and for the third time in a row your TOT told them to pound sand; this time,an agree-upon arbitrator decided that TOT owed the up-country phone provider 2.3 billion baht in misguided revenue sharing for long distance calls;but TOT president Varut Suvakorn rejected the arbitration and told TT&T,"See ya in court, boys"; in case the Administrative Court rules against TOT yet again, Mr Varut said he was pretty sure the state firm didn't have that kind of money to pay off anyhow; TT&T explained that lawsuit number four is about to be filed.
       No 2 yuppiephone firm DTAC of Norway opened its new headquarters in new Chamchuri Square , bragging that it spent one billion baht on the 19-floor (!) digs; all 3,200 DTAC employees relocated from the Chai Building to the new location at the Sam Yan intersection,overlooking Chulalongkorn University;CEO Tore Johnsen signed a 10-year lease for the 61,160-square-metre office,which includes the firm's main call centre; Mr Johnsen said new staff will work harder to pay the extra rent money; the kicker is that DTAC is asking the following price for the Chai Building one billion baht; Mr Johnsen said that DTAC was pressing ahead aggressively on its 3G trials and so on and etc and zzzzzzz.
       Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul, apparently unaware that you can't spell "Thaksin" without "hub", said that Asean should become the energy exporting hub of the world; no, really,his reasoning is that Southeast Asia has so much food that it can make biofuels galore and sell it to the world at Arabesque profits; not only does Southeast Asia (sic) have a lot of extra food to feed the world's cars, it's, well, better "higher yields and more commercially viable for biofuel than corn and beetroot" from the US and Europe; to coin a phrase, in the klongs there are fish and in the fields there are biofuels.
       Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul called in state firms and phuyai of the private sector for a heart-to-heart joint statement that everyone would cooperate on saving energy; this year's spin is that the programme will "save"100 billion baht, and Mr Wannarat got away unchallenged with a claim that a similar project last year saved 30 billion baht; the deal is that the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) and the Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) and so on - 30,000 firms altogether - will work on conservation, purchase green technology and so on, and in return they will get some tax breaks and subsidies on loans taken through the energy services company fund (Esco); the minister is looking for one billion baht to fund Esco this year.

A piece of the action

2009-09-25T07:32:00.001-07:00

       And the crowd went wild as Steve "President for Life" Jobs of Apple Computer came out on the stage to emcee the now-annual September music sales pitch, with loads of new stuff; in the biggest news, the iPod Nano got a video camera and FM radio, and Steve showed off the new iTunes Ver 9 management software; he also showed off the iPhone OS 3.1, available for download, which actually recommends apps you might like, has better synching for music and video, and lets you save video from email attachments into your playlist, aka Camera Roll.
       Apple cut the prices of its old iPod models just hours ahead of announcing new iPod models; the price of the 32-gigabyte iPod Touch was cut $120 to $279, or 9,500 baht in real money; a 120-gig iPod Classic now costs $229, a $20 cut by the generous folks who run Apple. Palm introduced a smaller,cheaper smartphone than the successful Pre; the Pixi, as it's called, is aimed at younger users; it's slimmer, has a smaller screen, but features a Qwerty keyboard,8GB of memory and a two-megapixel camera.
       US President Barack Obama, in a controversial school-time speech to most US children, advised them to be careful about what they put on Facebook and other social networks;"Whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life," he warned.
       First Solar of America signed a contract with the Chinese government to build the world's largest solar power plant in Inner Mongolia; assuming it is built, the Ordos City plant will push out 2,000 megawatts of electricity,around four times the size of the projects being built by the US Army in the Mojave Desert and by First Solar in California;the China project isn't near anything much; Ordos City is a coal-producing,eight-year-old, planned low-carbon development with about 1.5 million residents, roughly 800km west of Beijing.
       Networking firm Huawei of China,which has suffered a scandal or two in its Thailand work, was stung to the quick by mean stories in the Australian media that it might be tied to the Chinese espionage services; Guo Fulin, managing director of Huawei in Australia, was hurt by the insensitive stories that his company was under investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation; Huawei is a public-owned company, he said, and it is unthinkable that any government agency would be using Huawei to conduct spying.
       The government of Cuba took a huge security gamble, and authorised post offices to provide Internet access to the public - just in case the Cuban government ever authorises the public to use the Internet at some point in the future; the only public access currently allowed is to an inside-Cuba intranet for email, provided by post offices at a cost of the equivalent of 55 baht an hour, in a country where the average wage is 680 baht a month.
       Japan fired an unmanned cargo craft into orbit; the 16.5-tonne unmanned H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is on a mission to re-supply the space station;it will stay up there to continue ferrying stuff to the US shuttle fleet next year.
       Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologised for the way that people treated World War Two code-breaker and extraordinary computer geek Alan Turing for being gay; Turing was prosecuted for homosexual conduct in 1952,and a mere two years later, he committed suicide;"I am pleased to have the chance how deeply sorry I and we all are," said Mr Brown.
       Google , which plans to give away grazillions of books in order to get the (commercial) goods on its customers,offered to let all its opponents have a piece of the action;Amazon.com , which wants to sell grazillions of books to make tonnes of money directly, scoffed.Rupert Murdoch, the American media mogul, began collecting money at the tollgate to his news sites, in an interesting experiment to see if people will actually pay for news on the Net.
       IBM, Microsoft, Oracle Corp and Google all responded to a plaintive "Help" from the Newspaper Association of America on how to get money from customers who don't want to pay for news; Randy Bennett, who is the senior president for vice in newspapers, said he's looking over 11 different proposals on how to squeeze money out of you;Google, to no one's surprise, offered to put all newspapers behind one vast,semi-expensive firewall, because that would be so convenient for everyone to just pay one company one time, and then Google would spread the money around; sure, that ought to work.
       South African technology firm Unlimited IT dispatched Winston, a pigeon,from its office in Pietermaritzburg, with some data for its main hub in Durban strapped to the bird's leg; it took Winston one hour and eight minutes to fly the data card; meanwhile, Unlimited IT tried to send the same data via the speedchallenged Internet connections provided by leading Internet Telkom , and that download was four percent finished by the time Winston arrived; so it's not only countries that start with "T" that have Internet problems.
       T-Mobile of Germany and Orange of France merged their yuppiephone operations in Britain, creating a new $13.5 billion company with 28.4 mobile phone customers; the Deutsche Telekom-France Telecom venture will be the biggest provider in the UK, with a 37 percent market share, larger than O2 of Telefonica.

The IT gap widens again

2009-09-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

       It is not so much that Thailand ranked 47th in the world in the most recent Global Information Technology report compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). And it is not just that the rankings put Thailand 19 places behind Malaysia and not that far ahead of Vietnam. The part that should hurt was the WEF commentary, straight from the shoulder,that Thailand continues to lose ground in IT competition with the rest of the world. And the analysis put the full blame on the government.
       The Global Information Technology Report is a direct measure of each country's competitiveness. It is a "critical enabler of growth", in the words of Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the WEF, and "is increasingly moving to the core of national competitiveness strategies around the world". But this is exactly the problem. Thai authorities have neither grasped nor encouraged IT development. And in the 21st century,through both perception and results, countries which fail to grasp the opportunity of information technology are letting their citizens down, if not directly dooming them to lack of development.
       Last year, Thailand ranked 40th in the world in the global report."Pursuing its downward slide in the ranking, Thailand plunges a further seven positions,"the report's editors wrote."Behind this negative trend is the continuous worsening of the country's performance in all the government-related indicators." That leaves little wriggle room for a government that has had nothing to brag about in the IT field anyhow. And there is plenty of blame to go around. The last two Puea Thai and People's Power administrations lacked in IT motivation and leadership as well.
       The current Democrat-led government, however,has proved the WEF's words to be true. When he was forming his coalition government early this year, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva made the ill-advised, ultimately harmful decision to turn the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology into one of the lowest political-payoff posts. The appointed minister, Ranongruk Suwunchwee, already had a double fault. She has no experience in the field of IT or in managing technology experts. Worse in some eyes, her husband Pairoj was banned from politics for five years in the Thai Rak Thai court decision, and she is widely seen as his surrogate and proxy.
       Mrs Ranongruk has managed to survive seven months as minister without making a public decision on IT.Staff of the state-owned telecommunications agencies TOT and CAT Telecom have publicly demonstrated against her lack of action. All levels of the IT industry have lost faith in the ICT Ministry to push information technology for the public good, whether in the schools,the markets, in business or even in government.
       Mrs Ranongruk has retreated behind her office door.Instead of pushing for IT development, she has enthusiastically taken on the role of official Thailand censor.She has banned more than 17,000 websites for real and imagined violations of her personal view of politics and national security. Recently, she has tried, often successfully, to block access to websites that are nothing but political argument, in gross violation of freedom of speech and the press.
       The WEF has got it exactly right. The government,through numerous sins of commission and omission,has harmed the development of IT and thus the country.Thailand needs an ICT minister able to send the message that IT is necessary for healthy economic growth. If the government fails to get behind such a push, Thailand will continue to drop in the competitive rankings.

Intel urges PM to boost rural web

2009-09-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

       ICT is helping the Government in its economic stimulus package by encouraging smarter spending, paving the future for Thailand in a competitive global environment, said Navin Shenoy,Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group and general manager Asia Pacific region, Intel Corporation.
       Navin shared his view during a visit from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva,during which he praised the stimulus package as a bold and progressive initiative, especially as it has an IT-centric focus in the area of education. Spending on computer usage has been increased,so that there is now a ratio of 20 students per computer, up from the previous average of 40 to 1.
       Navin said the Government should consider investing in a nationwide digital infrastructure."Broadband is a basic utility of the 21st century and the future of Thai society and the economy depends on this because 1 percent of broadband penetration drives 1 percent of the GDP," he said. IT creates smarter infrastructure
       The executive who used to work as technical assistant to Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini, continued that IT can also help the government transform many business sectors.
       For example, implementing a wireless network on the railways or modernising the energy distribution system would create a "smart grid" from where electricity waste could be monitored,encouraging consumers to be more efficient in their electric usage at home,bringing down energy consumption and easing the strain on the environment. This could also help modernise heath care services and public hospital facilities.
       "I have seen the Chinese and US governments invest in an IT smart grid for health care and I sees opportunities here in Thailand as well," added Navin.Wi-Max crucial for rural development
       The digital divide is another important aspect and further investment in IT can aid rural development, which is crucial for Thailand. Getting broadband into rural areas with Wi-Max (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology will help lower the cost of internet usage upcountry.
       The National Telecommunication Commission of Thailand said it is important Thailand does not delay because Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have already implemented Wi-Max, while Vietnam and Indonesia are working on it.
       Several countries offer funding and tax incentive to accelerate use of IT in rural areas. For example, China offers tax rebates to farmers who buy computers, while India has set a target to bring Internet access to 6,000 villages within three years.
       Navin continued:"Intel invests in forms of equity in service operators in many countries like Malaysia, Japan,Russia and USA. There are many issues to consider, including government commitment, return on investment and size of the market.
       "At this stage, Thailand's first priority should be to make frequency available and then open it to auction, with a vision to have five million broadband users by the end of 2010."ICT rebound back on track
       The Vice President also anticipates that a recovery in the global economy and a more stable political environment in Thailand will boost confidence and encourage IT spending.
       Over the next 12 months, many businesses are expected to renew their existing computers to reduce their manageability costs and increase security.
       Navin said:"We think that 4 or 5 years is the optimal cycle for PCs because maintenance costs in the fifth year and beyond can hit $1,000(34,000 baht), which is more than the cost of buying a new computer.
       "The laptop market in Thailand has grown 25 percent this year, which shows the continuing demand for computers and ICT despite economic difficulties."

AIS consults watchdog on 3G bid uncertainty

2009-09-25T07:06:00.001-07:00

       Advanced Info Service has consulted the national telecom regulator |in a bid to clear up uncertainty over whether it will be eligible to bid for a 3G-2.1GHz licence if it provides the 3G service via another telecom operator's network on a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) basis.
       AIS chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn yesterday said the National Telecommunications Commission had replied that its members would discuss the matter before replying. The watchdog might give an answer at the public hearing on the guidelines for the auction of 3G licences this coming Monday.
       One condition in the auction guidelines states that those involved in 3G-2.1GHz cellular service development are not allowed to bid for 3G-2.1GHz licences from the NTC.
       An MVNO is a firm without its own network that has bought |the airtime of a network operator in order to provide a cellular service.
       A telecom industry source said TOT, which owns AIS's concession, had approached AIS to provide a 3G cellular service on the MVNO basis via TOT's upcoming 3G network in the greater Bangkok area. AIS has yet to make a decision on the matter.
       Recently TOT said four companies were interested in providing 3G service via its upcoming 3G network on an MVNO basis, and that one of the four was a large listed firm. However, it declined to specify the name of the listed company.
       TOT is upgrading the existing 1,900MHz network in greater Bangkok to 3G technology. The upgrade is expected to be finished in December.
       Besides, it plans to spend more than Bt20 billion on the roll-out of the new 3G network nationwide, pending the Cabinet's approval of its investment plan.
       In the last two weeks, the NTC's board decided that TOT would not be allowed to bid for the 3G-2.1GHz licences, given that it owns the 1,900 MHz band, which is part of the 2.1GHz spectrum.
       But the NTC will first discuss whether CAT Telecom is eligible to bid for the licences. The Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent of both CAT and TOT.
       Samart Corp is one company interested in becoming an MVNO of TOT's upcoming 3G service on the upgraded network. It is in talks with the state agency on a possible MVNO deal.

FCC stirs old debate on "Internet neutrality"

2009-09-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

       The head of the US Federal Communications Commission proposed new rules on Monday that would require Internet providers, including wireless carriers, to treat all Web traffic equally.
       There are few goals more essential in the communications landscape than preserving and maintaining an open and robust Internet, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at the Brookings Institution.
       It is vital that the Internet continue to be an engine of innovation, economic growth, competition and democratic engagement, Genachowski told the Washington-based think tank.
       He said the FCC needed to play a role in ensuring network neutrality the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) provide the same speed and level of service to all Web users, regardless of size.
       The new rules would prevent ISPs,for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.
       I believe the FCC must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open Internet, Genachowski said.
       Anticipating the objections of some ISPs to the move, he said:This is not about government regulation of the Internet. Its about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet.
       The FCC chairman proposed adding two new principles to those currently guiding the regulatory bodys approach to maintaining an open Internet and extending them to wireless carriers.
       Genachowski said the first would prevent broadband providers from discriminating against particular Web content or applications while allowing for reasonable network management.
       This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks,or pick winners by favouring some content or applications over others, he said.
       Nor can they disfavour an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider, Genachowski added.
       This principle will not prevent broadband providers from reasonably managing their networks, he said.During periods of network congestion, for example, it may be appropriate for providers to ensure that very heavy users do not crowd out everyone else.
       Genachowski also stressed that the open Internet principles apply only to lawful content, services and applications not to activities like unlawful distribution of copyrighted works.
       The second principle would ensure that ISPs be transparent about their network management practices, the FCC chief said.
       Genachowskis remarks are his first major pronouncement on the hotly contested issue since taking office and are likely to draw fire from ISPs, which have generally resisted interference in management of their networks.
       During his White House campaign,President Barack Obama came out strongly in favour of net neutrality, which is backed by companies such as Google,Amazon, Yahoo!, eBay and consumer advocacy groups, but opposed by telecommunications, wireless and cable companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
       Genachowski said he would like to see the five-member FCC consider the new rules in October and announced that the FCC had launched a website,openinternet.gov, to encourage public participation in the process.

Broadband use low as access limited

2009-09-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

       Inconvenient access to core fixed and mobile networks and high service fees are the reasons for the low penetration rate of broadband internet usage, says Pitjapol Jantanasaro, the vice-secretary of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
       He said if current broadband service fees starting at 590 baht per month could be lowered to 300-400 baht, it would stimulate more internet use, similar to the mobile phone market's experience.
       Average mobile phone usage fees have dropped to about 200 baht per month,leading to widespread use in almost 100%of the country. Broadband internet usage remains low at 1.6% even though one million households have internet access.
       Anuparb Thilalarp, a telecom expert,said internet access was still monopolised by Type 3 operators, or operators that have their own networks, while Type 1 and Type 2(those that do not own a network) could not reach end users because they were blocked or deterred by the competing Type 3 operators.
       He said Type 3 operators use their networks to serve their customers rather than leasing them to other ISPs to provide service that competes with them.
       "It is not unusual that we have more than 100 ISPs that service corporate customers but not the general public because they have no LAN lines or mobile networks," Mr Anuparb said. He added that broadband service was not competitive yet and prices have not dipped much.
       He also blamed poor enforcement of the interconnection charge system for operators as another reason for low broadband use, although the charge became effective three years ago.
       Mr Anuparb said recent research showed the operating cost for 1MB of broadband was just 150 baht per month,440 baht less than operators charge on average now.
       He then called on the government to help ease the cost of building internet access networks so that ISPs could provide broadband at a minimum of 300 baht per month. The fee was compared to monthly usage of mobile phones, to which everyone now has access.

INTEL'S ADVICE FOR FOSTERING GROWTH IN FIELD OF ICT

2009-09-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

       Giant US-based chipmaker Intel sent a senior executive to meet Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last week, to urge the Thai government to pay more attention to the improvement of information-and communications-technology education, digital-infrastructure investment and spending on WiMax to bridge the country's digital divide.
       Navin Shenoy, general manger for the Asia-Pacific, proposed the expenditure be sourced from the Thai Khemkhaeng project.
       He said the government should invest "smartly" in education to allow children throughout the country to have equal access to ICT, to enhance their learning experience.
       An improvement in the national digital infrastructure would help to bridge the digital divide by giving people living in rural areas an equal chance to access knowledge.
       Shenoy said WiMax, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, was a technology suitable for current investment that would help Thailand to move forward quickly.
       He said the government's new infrastructure investment should include investment in ICT infrastructure at the same time.
       Thailand could also benefit from lower WiMax-investment costs because many countries in the region have been investing in the technology, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. This will bring the cost of WiMax infrastructure and equiopment down dramatically, he said.
       "Rural broadband is a fundamental need for the country's improvement as a whole, and WiMax can play a key role in bringing broadband to the rural areas of Thailand with effective investment," Shenoy said.
       However, to make rural broadband a reality, the government first had to make the WiMax spectrum available, with a clear directive. Then, private organisations could build business plans.
       "WiMax could be a key factor to drive an increase in Thailand's broadband penetration rate. Every 1 per cent of broadbank penetration equals one per cent of gross-domestic-product growth. Broadband will deliver the utilities [services] that everyone deserves," Shenoy said, adding that the country's economy will be larger if a WiMax infrastructure is laid down throughout rural areas.
       "There is an opportunity gap upcountry, and you can see it in the fact the most PC growth is upcountry," he said.
       Shenoy suggested that the Thai government could play an important role in making a rural broadband network available in the not-too-distant future by introducing policies, tax incentives and government purchases.
       "The availability of broadband infrastructure both in the cities and rural areas would improve Thailand's eduction by giving students equal access to ICT, would improve the country's competitiveness and bridge the digital divide."
       To get things moving, Intel has launched a mission it calls "5 by 10", aimed at pushing Thailand to achieve 5 million broadband ports by the end of next year. That goal is consistent with the government's goal to increase the PC penetration rate for students from 40:1 to 20:1 in the next three years.
       Shenoy said Intel would support the government's investments with its knowledge, experience and technology transfer. It is not yet committed to any financial investments.
       To date, Intel Capital has invested in WiMax in four Asia-Pacitic countries: Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Malaysia. Its investment totals US$ 20 million to $50 million (Bt676 million to Bt1.69 billion).

WATCHDOG SET TO REFOCUS ON RULES ENFORCEMENT

2009-09-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

       The telecom watchdog will step up its enforcement of regulations to ensure fair competition in the Internet access market.
       Sethaporn Cusripituck, a member of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), admitted that the regulator, which was set up almost five years ago, has focused too much on developing regulations in the past years. But from now on, it would turn more to the enforcement side.
       He made the remark yesterday at the NTC's meeting with Internet service provider licensees to learn if they had any problems after one small ISP complained in the meeting about major network owners.
       The ISP said that sometimes the telecoms declined to allow it to lease their networks to provide Internet service in some locations, citing insufficient network capacity.
       Article 25 of the Telecom Business Act of 2001 requires licensees with telecom networks to allow other licensees to interconnect with their networks.
       They can refuse in some cases such as when their network has insufficient bandwideth or when access by an outside party might cause a technical problem.
       The NTC has 107 ISP licensees, of which 84 hold a Type 1 licence, 14 a Type 2 licence and nine a Type 3 licence.
       The NTC has extednded the term of the ISP licence to five years from the original one year.
       Type 1 is for those without their own dedicated network. while Type 2 is for those either with or without their own network but their competition does not have a significant impact on the public.
       Type 3 is for those with large networks, such as cellular operators, whose competition can have a significant wide-scale impact on the public.
       According to the NTC, True Corp commanded 38.43 per cent of the broadband Internet service market last year, followed by TT&T with 27.92 per cent, TOT with 27.39 per cent, and the others with a combined 6.26 per cent.
       Last year there were 13.4 million dial-up and broadband Internet users in Thailand.
       In the first quarter of this year, there were 1.7 million broadband and 7.2 million telephone subscribers.
       The broadband Internet market is projected to increase to bt10.5 billion next year from Bt8.5 billion expected this year and Bt6.63 billion recorded last year.

CAT told to avoid 11-digit numbers

2009-09-22T20:12:00.001-07:00

       The telecom regulator recently warned CAT Telecom to stop the alleged use of 11-digit mobile phone numbers to contact other cellular networks, since no such numbers have yet to be assigned to any network.
       Praset Apipunya, deputy secretary-general of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), said the use of 11-digit numbers contravenes the NTC's numbering regulations.
       A CAT source said the warning was aimed at Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia but was sent to CAT because CAT, as the licensee of the NTC, was allocated 10-digit mobile phone numbers, which CAT in turn assigned to Hutch to use in marketing its cellular service.
       Hutch is a joint venture of CAT and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecom.
       The source said CAT has already asked Hutch if it was providing the service with 11-digit phone numbers but Hutch rejected the claim. CAT will inform the NTC about Hutch's denial.
       The NTC's warning states that CAT would face a fine of Bt20,000 per day, if it does not stop the alleged use of 11-digit phone numbers.
       All telecom operators get their phone numbers from the NTC. Local mobile phone numbers usually have 10 digits.
       The NTC started an investigation in April when it found that 11-digit numbers had been used to call customers of True Move, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Total Access Communication (DTAC).
       In May the NTC ordered CAT to ask Hutch about the case. CAT then informally asked Hutch about the case and Hutch denied it.
       In June True Move sought police help to find out what 11-digit mobile phone service was sending calls to its customers. True Move said it wants to protect its network from being contacted by what it calls illegal numbers and that it is also losing interconnection fee income because it does not know which network to charge.

NTC seeks feedback on 3G

2009-09-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

       The National Telecommunications Commission will listen to all reasonable proposals to make sure third-generation or 3G mobile broadband licence rules benefit the people and country, says Gen Choochart Promprasit, the NTC chairman.
       The regulator would welcome all proposals at its scheduled public hearing on the licence auction on Sept 28.
       He said reasonable proposals would be adapted to the draft auction regulations and would be published in the Royal Gazette by the end of October.He predicted that the auction process could then start by the end of the year.
       Some analysts have questioned whether the NTC has the power to regulate content because 3G technology involved convergence between telecoms and broadcasting. Gen Choochart said this concern was resolved because the NTC has a radio and television broadcasting sub-committee to look after content under a provision of the Radio and Television Broadcasting Law 2008.
       The NTC was still considering whether to announce publicly the median price for 3G bids. Analysts have said the figure could be around 10 billion baht per licence. It has been reported that bidders would need to post bank guarantees equal to the median price but he said this was not yet an official condition.

Jasmine orders TT&T to cede control of Maxnet after ruling

2009-09-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

       Jasmine International Plc has given TT&T Plc an ultimatum to stop operating a broadband internet service through an affiliate, claiming the business unit is majority owned by Jasmine.
       The parent of the provincial fixedline telephone and internet provider said it was asserting its right to take over Triple T Broadband, based on the fact that it owns a 91% stake in the internet provider.
       The assertion came in a letter to TT&T after the Central Bankruptcy Court approved the appointment of P Planner to prepare the debt rehabilitation plan for TT&T, according to a TT&T shareholder.
       The executive said TT&T had threatened to cancel broadband bill payment services at its nationwide customer service centres for Triple T if Jasmine takes over the business. In addition, TT&T threatened to sue Jasmine if the latter cuts off its copper cable or optical-fibre network without permission.
       In the letter, Jasmine ordered TT&T Subscriber Service, another subsidiary of TT&T, to stop managing the MaxNet broadband service as it is causing confusion among customers. Jasmine said it neither hired nor requested TT&T Subscriber to run the business.
       Triple T Broadband has not run the business in compliance with Jasmine's policies and disagreed with its manage-ment plan, which is causing severe damage to the broadband unit, Jasmine said.
       Also, as TT&T is entering into rehabilitation, it urgently needs to put most of its efforts into restructuring debt, creating a new business plan and restructuring the organisation, Jasmine said."We want TT&T to stop running the broadband management and revenue collection,and transfer customers from its network."
       TT&T is planning to restructure 21 billion baht in debt. Of all, 18 billion baht consists of long-term obligations of five to 10 years, and the remaining 3 billion represent supplier credits. Of that amount,45% of the debts are owed to a dozen local financial institutions, with the rest to foreign creditors.
       Jasmine also said that TT&T could not ban customers from paying bills at its facilities because the company had informed the Revenue Department that Triple T was allowed to legally use the centres for bill services.
       "We have the right to fully control the broadband unit and TT&T has no right to intervene," the letter said, adding that TT&T held only a 9% stake in Triple T Broadband.
       Triple T, with 10 million baht in registered capital, previously was wholly owned by TT&T. But TT&T failed to inject money into the company when it needed to raise its capital to 110 million baht, resulting in Jasmine becoming the major shareholder.

CAT Telecom eyes WiMax deal with MCOT

2009-09-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

       CAT Telecom is keen on using MCOT's 2.6GHz spectrum to offer WiMax broadband cellular services as part of its plan to develop new wireless businesses.
       CAT's new CEO, Jirayuth Rungsrithong, said yesterday that CAT would talk seriously with the broadcaster's management on a possible tie-up to develop WiMax on the 2.6GHz spectrum.
       CAT has already floated the idea to MCOT, he said.
       However, the National Telecommunications Commission has earmarked only the 2.3GHz spectrum for WiMax, since other potential alternatives, such as the 2.5GHz spectrum, are now being used for broadcasting.
       CAT's board on Wednesday appointed Jirayuth to a four-year term and will evaluate his performance every six months.
       Jirayuth said that besides seeking new business, his other top priority is to finish merging CAT's CDMA 2000 1-x cellular network with Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia's network by December.
       Hutchison-CAT is a joint venture of CAT and Hong Kong telecom operator Hutchison Telecom.
       CAT operates its own CDMA network in 51 provinces, while Hutchison-CAT markets the CDMA service under a contract with CAT on a separate CDMA network in 25 provinces.
       Hutchison-CAT leases the CDMA network from BFKT, which is wholly owned by Hutchison Telecom.
       Their combined network will strengthen the state enterprise's CDMA service offering and marketing.
       Hutchison Telecom has already informed CAT of its intention to sell the BFKT network to CAT.
       CAT's CDMA service, which has 350,000 subscribers, generated revenue of Bt618 million in the first eight months of this year, while Hutchison-CAT, which has 1.1 million subscribers, contributed about Bt400 million to CAT in the same period.
       CAT's CDMA network in 51 provinces features the 3G wireless broadband technology, Jirayuth said.
       CAT plans to upgrade the BFKT network to the technology after the merger, as it wants to evolve the merged network to 4G technology in a few years.
       CAT targets total revenue of Bt52 billion this year after posting revenue of Bt31.9 billion in the first eight months, of which Bt12 billion was from its own operation and Bt19 billion from its concession holders.

Tycoon drops PCCW appeal

2009-09-16T22:32:00.001-07:00

       Tycoon Richard Li has dropped his final appeal of a court decision that blocked him from buying out PCCW, the city's leading telecommunications company, bringing an end to the controversial privatisation saga.
       Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited, Li's Singapore-listed company, said in a document filed to the Singapore Stock Exchange late Tuesday that it has decided to drop its challenge to the earlier ruling in Hong Kong's highest court after "careful deliberation."
       Li's latest move marks the end of an epic privatisation deal that involved a high-profile intervention by the local securities watchdog.
       Li, the son of one of Asia's richest men, billionaire businessman Li Kashing, attempted to take Hong Kongbased PCCW private for about $2 billion earlier this year via PCRD and his other company Starvest.
       But Li and his allies were forced to bow out of the controversial deal after a court sided with the Securities and Futures Commission, which claimed the shareholder vote approving the buyout offer appeared to have been rigged.
       Li sought to appeal the ruling, but his request was denied last month by the Court of Appeal.
       PCRD had previously said it planned to make one last appeal against the court decision. However, it said in Tuesday's statement that it was in shareholders'best interests to draw a line under the matter.

When "Thai time" gets in the way of progress

2009-09-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

       Should we call for a rethink in 3G after all and wait to get things done right, according to the rules? The regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission, is treading forward on shakey legal ground and in doing so,might be tailoring the 3G licenses more towards keeping lawsuits at bay rather than working in the best interests of the kingdom.
       The problem stems from Section 305, paragraph 1, and Section 47, paragraph 2 of the 2007 constitution and no, returning to the 1997 constitution would not help, as history has already proven the 1997 framework unable to get 3G rolling after 10 years of squabbling.
       Section 47(2) calls for an independent regulatory body, the new National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), to have the duty to distribute frequencies as per paragraph 2, or for the best public interest. However,305(1)says that 47(2) shall not come into effect until the body is set up, which must be done within 180 days of the constitution coming into force.
       That 180-day limit should have given us an NBTC by February 2008. It was there as an attempt to solve a deadlock in the 1997 constitution that saw 10 years pass without a National Broadcasting Commission set up. Thais are not known for their punctuality, be it for meetings or for obeying time limits set in the constitution.
       305(1) says that there shall be no 47(2) until the NBTC is up and running. To most people, common sense would suggest this means that there is to be no frequency allocation until we have selected an NBTC.
       So where does that leave the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), one half of the two independent regulators set up under the 1997 constitution - the other half being the never established National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)? Why is it now pushing so hard for 3G licenses to be issued?
       One of my sources, a former TOT executive who asked not to be named, said that this was the very question that the NTC has been working on for the past two years since the constitution was passed.They asked the Council of State (the government's legal advisers) for clarification and the answer that finally came down after years of debate finally paved the way to this renewed move to 2.1 GHz 3G licensing.
       The answer was that the NTC could give out 2.1 GHz 3G licenses as it was not considered allocation of frequency in a way that needed consultation with the broadcasting regulator.
       The NBTC is to be a merger of the NTC (telecommunications) and NBC (broadcasting) into the same body. While some, myself included, have said that dividing the NBTC into its proposed telecommunications arm and broadcasting arm is not a good idea and that it should be divided into an infrastructure layer and a content later, it is no doubt better than having two equal but separate organisations that must agree on frequency allocation. Its role is to write up a frequency map and issue licenses to operators, be it broadcasting (TV, radio) or cellular telephone operators.
       The reasoning that the NTC can go ahead with 2.1 GHz 3G licensing was that the NTC still has jurisdiction over licensing anything that is purely telecommunications and will never be broadcasting.Since the International Telecommunications Union has decided 2.1 to be a purely telecommunications band, then by all means go ahead. However, for 2.3/2.5 GHz WiMAX, the frequency is also used by TV operators, thus a decision on WiMAX will have to wait for the NBTC to decide if those frequencies are to be used for WiMAX or for beaming television pictures in Thailand.
       This argument sounds reasonable enough, but it is understood that not all the NTC commissioners are comfortable with this interpretation. After all,305(1) said that the NBTC had to be up and running within 180 days, so it could also be interpreted that the NTC only had jurisdiction for the 180 days after the new constitution took effect (it is now over two years). Also, it only protects any agreements made before the constitution took effect, not ones made afterwards. Any license issued by the NTC under these circumstances could be on shakey ground indeed.
       If the licenses are subject to legal interpretation,the only way forward for the NTC is to ensure that all the bidders leave the table happy so nobody will lodge a challenge in the courts, but that runs against the idea of having a regulator in the first place. The regulator is supposed to be keeping the operators on their toes to ensure that the consumer gets a good deal. If the roles are reversed and it is the operators holding a legal knife against the regulator,what happens is collusion and when that happens,the consumer inevitably loses out. The NBTC would not be hampered and thus could be much stronger in its dealings with the operators.
       We are talking 15-year concessions here and an entire generation might have to live with any bad decision that comes from what unfolds in upcoming months. Perhaps the roll-out requirements to rural areas is not as fast as the NTC would have liked, or perhaps the cost of the licenses are lower than what would be optimal.
       Waiting for the NBTC would be very bad in terms of further lost opportunity and business productivity due to continued lack of telecommunications infrastructure. Pressing ahead might not work anyway as any loser of the auction might launch a legal challenge and land things in limbo while the courts work their way through the arguments. The Council of State, despite its fancy name, is essentially the government lawyer, not the courts.
       The 2007 constitution came into force on August 24,2007 and successive governments have had the chance to set up the NBTC. If only Surayud, Samak,Somchai and even Abhisit had done their job properly, things would be so much clearer now.
       On a side note, further light was shed on the 850 3G situation in that meeting. Given a choice, none of the operators would choose to use 850 for 3G under the current contract for two reasons. Firstly,the 30 percent revenue cut that has to go to the CAT Telecom as concession holder.2.1 GHz was always viewed as a way out of the revenue-share model. Secondly, with the concession ending in 2018, that leaves only nine years before any new 3G equipment has to be handed back to CAT, and nine years does not make for any economic model for a 3G roll-out, let alone one where a third of revenue has to sliced off. However, my source told me that from a regulatory standpoint, the 850 squabble was an purely an internal CAT matter.They could move DTac around and give a new license to TrueMove as from the government's point of view, it is CAT's frequency and CAT can do with it as it wishes.

Equinix chief sees potential in Thailand

2009-09-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

       A carrier neutral data centre in Thailand would become a marketplace that would kick-start the Internet ecosystem and drive down prices for the benefit of users, content providers and infrastructure providers alike.
       Equinix Chief Technologist Lane Patterson.
       Lane Patterson, Chief Technologist at Equinix explained how his company runs one of the region's largest carrier neutral data centres in Singapore and how it was key in the shift of telecommunications power from Japan and Korea down to Singapore over the last five or six years.
       Thailand, with its two percent broadband penetration is full of future potential. The imminent explosion of smart mobile devices will lead to an explosion of innovation in software that depends on the network bandwidth pipe for growth.
       One such Equinix customer used that model and bought bandwidth first in one gigabit per second increments, which soon became 10 gig increments before soon changing the landscape of user generated content. That company is YouTube.
       Today Equinix partners with several major cloud computing operators. They have their data centres situated next to hydro-electric power plants to take advantage of cheap power, and they use Equinix for edge distribution with its presence in 30 of the world's top markets. In other words, by partnering with Equinix anyone will be within 50 milliseconds of 90 percent of the world's web population.
       50ms is just enough for the latest generation of telepresence type solutions. Just a year ago, the codecs could only take 6ms of jitter and had to be run over dedicated networks. In one year there has been an order of magnitude in tolerance and allows telepresence to run over the Internet instead.
       Patterson sees Thailand following the evolution of Japan and Korea with a local Internet for local language content while another track sees faster and better international links for companies to do business and drive the economy.
       Equinix is positioned as a carrier neutral data centre. This is analogous to international airports that are not in the business of running airlines, but of running an airport. By doing so, it creates a marketplace where someone who specialises in sub sea cables can sell bandwidth to someone specialising in financial transactions. Others specialise in broadband or IP TV to the home or regional cables. By bringing these together under one roof a new partnership is as simple as one patch cable, rather than running a leased line across half a city.
       "It is the only way it [the Internet industry] works and scales," Patterson said.
       The first group of clients are typically five or six telcos and Internet companies that sell bandwidth. Second is content, Google Yahoo or Facebook, both for their edge delivery and in many cases actual compute and storage farms.
       Third are the enterprises, either large companies like IBM that integrate systems and run them on behalf of their clients or the actual financial trading companies and banks that are themselves often as big and complicated as a mini-telco.
       On the side there is a whole separate market for caching. Akamai and China Cache use Equinix a lot. These allow consumers to set up a website and have local access speeds across a region instantly.
       All of these players put together under the same roof makes for a very vibrant ecosystem of 30 to 40 players who can make deals and implement them instantly.
       Today Asia still lacks connectivity. The cost of wholesale bandwidth is still six to eight times as much as links between Europe and the United States because of lack of infrastructure. Only recently have companies such as Tata, Reliance and KDDI risen to this challenge, he said.
       The consumer always wants faster broadband at a lower cost. Patterson said that putting aside the regulatory issues that are difficult to fix, a carrier neutral data centre much like Equinix would help Thailand to achieve that target. Would Equinix itself be interested in investing? Patterson said he was looking at the market.
       By 2010 or 2011, the new 100 GBPS Ethernet standard will have arrived in the market. What this means is that the older 40G or 10G links which used to be premium will become commoditised as financial companies and telcos move to 100G and therefore more affordable for the rest of us.
       The economic crisis seemed like it did not happen as broadband Internet has become an unstoppable force. People are now accustomed having untethered access to things rather than having to check their email in the office or Internet cafe.
       One study in the United States asked people if they would rather give up their television or their broadband during the economic crisis and most said they would rather give up television.

THE COST OF MAKING A SOCIAL NETWORKING GAFFE

2009-09-13T23:15:00.000-07:00

       Today, a cellphone and a couple of e-mail addresses are no longer considered adequate tools by most of us to maintain our active social lives.
       Regardless of age, Internet - based social networking is the new way to stay in touch.
       Unless you've been living in the Sahara for the last few years, you'll have heard or read about Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Friendster, MySpace and LinkedIn.
       The websites have their respective rules and regulations on, among others, membership, mesage content and procedures in sending and receiving messages.
       And with minor vairations, the membership process requires the applicant to give relevant information about him or her self , his desired website identification and the password he will use to send andreceive messages.
       One accepted, a member may post a photo to accompany his website ID. He can use his best looking pictures (baby or high school photos included) or, if he prefers to be incognito, those of his favourite dog or ca.
       There is no reliable way of verifying the accuracy of the data submitted by the members. Any information posted must be taken at its face value and at the peril of whoever relies on it.
       Unless reuired to keep to a particular subject matter, members are free to express their thoughts and comment on anything and everything.
       Inevitably, access to such freedom of expression has resulted in some members releasing pent-up emotions and venting anger and frustration about their lives.
       Taking advantage of the perceived anonymity that the Internet offers, disgruntled employees feel secure in sending messages that are critical of the company, that are critical of the companyt, their bosses and, worse, their products.
       Some social networking websites have even become venues for unscrupulous parties to slander businss competitors.
       By the time the adversely affected party gets wind of the unfavourable material (assuming it does) and requests its removal, the message has already circulated within the website community.
       So what can the "victim" do after critical comments are removed or if the administrator turns down a demand for the removal of a rant from the messsge board?
       Short of going to court, his only remendy is to post his side of the story on the same website and pray that the readers believe it.
       In an effort to minimise and put a quick end to such underhanded tactics, some companies in the US and other countries now have people closely monitoring the traffic on popular social net working web-sites.
       If the culprits can be identified, the company can file a complaint for damages to deter others from doing something similar.
       While far from easy, it's not imposssible to trace the identity and location of networking members who post libellous or disparaging messages.
       If the sender gave his true name and address when applying for membership, there's virtually no sleuthing. It's like picking up a clenan fingerprint at the crime scene.
       But using an alias or submitting false information does not mean that the errant poster or mailer can rest easy.
       According to computer forensic experts, all e-mail material leaes a trail to its original source, regardless of the number of times it has moved form one site to another.
       Even deleted messages leave tracs or footprints in thier servers which, through painstaking efforts and with the aid of high-tech equipment, can be reconstituted and read.
       So becareful with that message to your social netowrk links that badmouths your company or manager. Someone you may have wronged a long time ago may stumble on it and forward it to your supervisor.
       Playful banter about pranks or petty crimes committed in school or at work, including youthful escapades, may accidentally be read by the staff of the company to which you have applied for a job.
       And always bear in mind that once a message or photo is uploaded in the Internet, that material can be read, not only by its intended receiver, but by anyone who has access to a computer.

       "Even deleted messages leave traces or footprints in their servers which, through painstaking efforts and with the aid of hi-tech equipment, can be reconstituted and read."

WiMax licences expected soon after 3G

2009-09-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

       The national telecom regulator intends to grant WiMax wireless broadband spectrum licences shortly after the auction of the 2.1-gigahertz third-generation spectrum licences. National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck yesterday said if the NTC auctioned the 3G licences in early December, the WiMax-spectrum licences would be granted shortly after that.
       He was speaking at the first public hearing on broadband wireless-access licensing and regulations for new technology services, including WiMax.
       Recently, NTC chairman Choochart Phromprasid said the watchdog intended to auction four 3G licences in December.
       Wi-Max provides wireless broadband connection service within a wide range.
       Sethaporn said the licence was likely to be granted via the auction, the same as the 3G spectrum licences, and that the NTC was considering whether to allow the 3G-licence winners to own the WiMax licences, as well.
       A CAT Telecom representative told the hearing that the WiMax licences should not be granted via the auction, given that CAT was not cash-rich enough to seek the licence that way.
       The NTC decided to grant only the 2.3GHz spectrum for WiMax-service development, given that the other potential choice - the 2.5GHz spectrum - had been in use in the broadcasting business. It may have to wait for the new regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, to get up and running and reallocate the 2.5GHz spectrum.
       The NTC also must take back the 2.3GHz spectrum from many state agencies now using the spectrum band. Of the total 100-megahertz bandwidth of the spectrum, TOT owns 64MHz bandwidth, while military agencies use a combined 30MHz bandwidth, and CAT4MHz bandwidth.
       The NTC appointed Sethaporn as chairman of the committee to negotiate the return of the 2.3GHz spectrum.
       Sethaporn said WiMax-licence applicants would be required to pay for the cost of the spectrum reallocation and related costs to the existing spectrum-owners. The applicants can combine both the cost of the spectrum reallocation and the licence fee together when applying for the licences.
       He said the NTC might be flexible in taking back the 2.3GHz spectrum from TOT, which intends to develop WiMax service.
       "We may ask TOT to tell us how much, out of the total bandwidth amount it owns, it wants to keep for WiMax-service development, and then we'll take back the remaining amount for the reallocation," Sethaporn said.
       TOT and True are eager to develop WiMax service to complement their existing fast-growing fixed-line-based broadband-Internet service.
       The NTC will grant both nationwide and regional licences and decide how many after the hearing. It has already determined a nationwide licence will feature 30MHz bandwidth, while a regional licence will feature 20MHz.

National Telecommunications Commission

2009-09-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

       As communications technologies continue to evolve and seemingly evaporate large geographical distances, bringing the most remote areas of the world within instantaneous reach, we asmembers of society, can often be guilty of overlooking the important role telecomunication regulating authorities play in ensuring new and existing forms of telecommunications are implemented properly with due consideration for consumers and businesses.
       While scholars and social commentators continue to debate the impact and scope of social changes emerging as part of the globalization phenomenon entailed within telecommunications developments, it seems universally agreed upon that the quantity of information being exchangeed in contemporary society will continue to increase to levels previously unseen in human history. Suc exchanges of information require careful planning from regional and national governments to ensure that powerful telecommunications conglomerates do not unfairly take advantage of consurmers, and that certain channels of communication are reserved to serve the greater public good, rather than just commercial interests. In Thailand, this important responsibility has been entrusted to the national Telecommunications Commission (NTC)-the first independent state telecommunications regulator, headed by Chairman General Choochart Promphrasid.
       Established by Royal proclamation on 1 October, 2004, the NTc operates to meet the goals of the "Master Plan on Telecomunications Development,' as approved by Cabinet on 4 November 1997. The NTC operates withh a substantial range of duties and responsibilities, revolving primarily around the public laws, security, science, culture, technology, consumer protection, and market regualation of all telecommunications services in the Kingdom.
       Under the guidance of a number of the nation's leading media specialists, the NTC handles a wide range of important tasks and duties, including the formation of criteria and categories for telecommunication service providers, the awarding of licenses to telecommunications companies, setting standards and required technical specifications for service operators, the formulation of tariff structures and services, consumer protection measures, as well as a multitude of other responsibilities pertaining to market conditions and regulations.
       Currently, the NTC charter covers all forms of telecommunications technology, including radio, television and internet. New and emerging telecommunications technologies, such as 3G (3rd Generation) and WiMAX, which are yet to be fully implemented in Thailand, are currently the focus of the NTC in 2009 and beyond, with spectrum assignment and licensing for 3G services expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
       According to NTC Commissioner Professor Prasit Prapinmongkolkam, the process of 3G implementation is nearly completed, with all technical details already worked out, except the assignment of the spectrum frequencies, which will be completed by December when an electronic auction is held in which service operators can bid for spectrum bandwidth.
       "We have been working on the 3G system for more than three years, and this year we will hold an auction for the use of the spectrum. We must however, be careful that we reserve some of the spectrum for specific, non-commercial use, because the spectrum is a limited resource and we must consider the interests of the nation and the people. We will carefully consider the bidding companies' intentions when we award use of the spectrums, so as to not only seek financial gains, but other telecommunications benefits to help the people of Thailand," says Prof. Prasit.
       the emergence of WiMAX technology is another concern for the NTC as it offers several advantages to rural areas of Thailand which currently lack sufficient access to internet and other forms of telecommunications technology. WiMAX has excellent potential to help farmers and those who rely on agricultural products for their liveihood as it provides wider, faster network coverage and could offer up-to-date market conditions and prices. Plans are being made by the NTC for WiMAX spectrum allocation, although this will have to be matched by appropriate market demand and development of the WiMAX system, which is currently only operating in a few North American cities.
       For broadband operators, the NTC has established three differant types of licenses which will ensure the correct and most efficient management of internet access for both consumers and service providers, with regulations in place for various types of companies, both big and small, who seek to provide internet access for everyday consumers. Outside of technical matters, one of the foremost duties of the NTC is to oversee the continued preservation of a "free and fair," telecommunications market-that is, a market free from monopolization or unfair competition. Essentially, the NTC acts as the "front desk" for telecommunications complaints regarding unfair treatment of consurmers by operating a free hotline number which receives consumer cases and acts accordingly. In the case of unfair treatment of consumers, the NTC has the power to revoke and suspend telecommunications licenses for infringements of service agreements, and thus works in the interests of the everday citizen who might otherise be forgotten.
       The NTC is also responsible for a number of telecommunications training programmes, human resources development, and informing society of how to best utilize emerging technology systems. As such, a number of workshops are organised by the NTC on issues such as mobile payment management, financiali transaction security, and how new technology can be used to benefit their everday lives, while also warning of the dangers and pitfalls that consumers can fall into. these workshops, known as "Chalard Chai" (smart use) select graduate and undergraduate students from around the country to participate in-depth courses so as to develop a network of greater understanding among Thai people., while also promoting individual research by the students themselves. A number of education scholarships are also offered to students seeking to study abroad, with deserving parties able to study in the USA, France or England, depending on their field of study.

A primer on 3G

2009-09-08T22:39:00.001-07:00

       The standard known as 3G, or Wideband CDMA, IS-95, was developed in 1995 but it was not until the early 2000s that it was deployed commercially.
       The names are confusing - WCDMA is an evolution of the European-centric GSM For 4G, while WCDMA evolved into LTE (Long Term Evolution).
       CDMA, the American 2G standard, evolved into CDMA EV-DO, which is also deployed in Thailand outside of the central provinces by CAT. Later, it evolved into the Ultra Mobile Broadband standard (UMB). However, it seems that all carriers, even those using EV-DO, are now focusing on LTE for 4G and that UMB is to all intents dead in the water.
       Frequencies can also be confusing. At first, virtually all WCDMA 3G (we are not talking about EV-DO) were at 2100 MHz or 2.1 GHz in Europe and most of Asia. Australia went with 850 MHz and the USA, always intent on doing things differently from the rest of the world, went with a combination of 850 and 1900. Today, Europe is moving to 900/2100 (re-farming old 900 GSM). In Thailand, TrueMove and DTac use 850 and AIS uses 900 for their trial networks. Most new phones imported to Thailand are Euro-spec, meaning 900/2100; the iPhone, Blackberry and most HP Windows Mobile devices being the major exceptions with 850/2100.
       Lower frequencies are better, with both bigger cells and better indoor coverage. However, there is not enough low-frequency space available to meet demand from everyone who wants it.
       Speeds are going up and up. WCDMA started at just 384 KBPS (about 0.38 MBPS). Now HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) has a top speed of 14.4 MBPS. However, most networks say that the latest 7.2 or 14.4 upgrades are their last as they are now gearing up for 4G LTE as their next upgrade.
       By next year, some countries will have rolled out 4G LTE commercially. Yet Thailand still has not decided on how to license 3G.

THREE FIRMS READY TO OFFER BROADBAND WIRELESS SERVICE

2009-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

       Three firms have proposed to use TOT's existing cellular network, which is being upgraded to the 3G technology, to provide a 3G wireless boradband service.
       TOT president Varut Suvakorn yesterday mentioned only two of them, Samart Corp and 365 Communications.
       365 Communications was reportedly founded by a group of experts in e-banking solutions development led by Surin Ritteephamorn, vice president for e-business of consumer finance provider Krungthai Card.
       Wichien Naksrinual, a TOT senior executive vice president, said the state enterprise would call in the three firms to propose their terms and conditions as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), including their plans to purchase airtime, their marketing details and their customer targets.
       MVNOs do not have their own network but buy airtime from telecom operators to provide their cellular service.
       Wichien expects that TOT could wrap up the deals with them at the end of this month and then they would sign non-disclosure agreements.
       He said that no cellular operator would propose to be an MVNO on TOT's 3G network as this might prejudice their planned bid for a 3G licence from the National Telecommunications Commision on the 3.1GHz spectrum.
       TOT is upgrading 500 base stations on its 1900MHz network in Greater Bangkok to 3G, which provides wireless data transmission at a blazing speed to 3G mobile phone users.
       It expects to be ready to kick off the network service on December 1.
       The network for the upgrade has the capacity to serve 500,000 customers.
       TOT will utilise part of it to provide its own retail 3G service, targeting 100,000 customers in the first month.
       Wichien said Advanced Info Service and True Move are interested in allowing the users of TOT's network to roam with their networks for voice calls when they travel outside Greater Bangkok.
       TOT is also interested in allowing the subscribers of the two cellular operators, who have 3G phones, to roam with its network for fast downloads of multimedia content.
       TOT plans to spend some Bt20 billion on rolling out the new 3G network nationwide but the project is pending Cabinet approval.

       TOT is upgrading 500 base stations on its 1900MHz network in Greater Bangkok to 3G, which provides wireless data transmission at a blazing speed to 3G mobile phone users.

JASMINE SETS ITSELF HIGH TARGET

2009-09-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

       Jasmine International has set an ambitious goal for the broadband Internet flagship of its telecom empire to take the market crown next year, despite the stuttering economy and cut-throat competition.

       "The broadband market is apparently on the growth path, thanks to rising service demand," CEO Pete Bodharamik said last week.
       The sagging economy has stalled the market's momentum only slightly, Pete, JAS' largest shareholder with over 17 per cent, said in an interview with The Nation.
       JAS' broadband Internet service provider, Triple T Broadband, is targeting to serve over one million subscribers next year, up from over 600,000 projected for this year-end. It currently has over 500,000 subscribers, up from 300,000 last year.
       Triple T Broadband's market share is expected to grow to 33 per cent at the end of this year from the present 25 per cent.
       The revenue contribution from JAS' broadband group, which includes Triple T Broadband and Triple T Internet, is expected to surge between 40 per cent and almost 50 per cent, up from 31 per cent or Bt1.74 billion last year.
       Triple T Broadband alone generated revenue of Bt1.73 billion in 2008, up from Bt1.23 billion in 2007.
       It lies in third place behind True Corp, which targets 700,000 subscribers by year-end, up from 650,000 now, and TOT, which aims to raise its subscribers to one million by year-end from 800,000 at present.
       Triple T Broadband's strategy to further grow its subscriber base involves competitive pricing, faster connections and wider network coverage.
       JAS' main investment this year has been Triple T Broadband's capacity expansion. It will spend Bt1.5 billion in the second half to raise service capacity to 1 million subscribers, after spending Bt1 billion on network expansion in the first half.
       JAS' wholly owned subsidiary, Acumen, has funded part of the broadband network expansion with its own cash, while bank loans and telecom network suppliers' credit have provided the rest of the capital.
       Early last month, Triple T Broadband sold shares through a rights offering. Acumen raised its stake in Triple T Broadband from 90 per cent to 99 per cent by buying shares in its allotment and those foregone by TT&T. The move diluted TT&T's holding in Triple T Broadband to 1 per cent. JAS and TT&T have locked horns following this, as TT&T said it maintained the right to buy Triple T Broadband shares.
       Pete said he understands TT&T's reaction but Acumen has already concluded its share increase in Triple T Broadband.
       JAS is TT&T's largest shareholder with 24.99 per cent.
       Acumen, which offers Wi-Fi wireless Internet via 6,000 hotspots nationwide, is gradually expanding its Wi-Fi network coverage.
       Pete said the group's investment budget next year depends on the market situation.
       Jasmine Telecom Systems (JTS), which provides turnkey telecom services and solutions, is interested in bidding on the 3G broadband wireless network rollout for TOT.
       TOT plans to spend over Bt20 billion on taking the 3G network nationwide for lease to telecom operators but the project is still pending Cabinet approval.
       Another major telecom holding firm, Samart Corp, is also keen to bid for the 3G network supply deal from TOT.
       But JAS is not interested in becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), Pete said, citing the business' low margins and JAS' focus on its core business of broadband service.
       An MVNO does not have its own network but leases bandwidth from a cellular operator to provide mobile phone service.
       JTS is also interested in providing telecom equipment to CAT Telecom's project to offer broadband Internet service via a fibre optic network, or the so-called fibre-to-the-x (FTTx).
       CAT will spend Bt6 billion on developing FTTx in greater Bangkok as part of the Abhisit administration's Thai Khem Khaeng" (Invest for Strength) economic stimulus programme, which means the FTTx project will receive government priority and fast-track approval.

INTERNET EMERGING AS A NEW STAGE FOR PUBLIC DEBATE

2009-09-06T05:57:00.001-07:00

       But there are also worries whether these online discussions are degenerating into reckless rhetoric One of the by-products of the Internet is the proliferation of contributors expressing their diverse and lively political views on a number of news Websites and blogs. Thailand is no exception and the trend appears to be that an increasing number of people are participating in online political discussion and debate.
       The challenge now is how to harness this new "public sphere", to borrow the notion from German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, towards the goal of making it a force for democracy and mutual understanding.
       Online posting is not always constructive and questions remain as to how relevant it is to democracy and helping us understand one another as members of a society.
       Some are put off by the online ranting, character assassination unleashed by some participants. Others doubt if people can really learn and listen from one another as some tend to just post highly dogmatic and incendiary remarks online in an apparent attempt to reinforce their own belief or to just let off steam.
       The anonymous nature of many of the online contributors also poses doubt about the reliability of information and the trustworthiness of the remarks of these online participants.
       The reasons for someone choosing to remain anonymous may differ. Some may simply feel their profession or real-life identity may be in conflict with some of their political views. Others may simply enjoy their second or third alter ego online. It's fair to question, however, whether one can or should trust another person online who resorts to using funny or even sober aliases in order to ensure that you may never know his or her real identity.
       Some of these anonymous online contributors tend to become reckless and excessive in their choice of words, leading to unpleasant feelings and even defamation-related crimes such as those under lese majeste law. While people may and should debate on the merit of the lese majeste law, outright verbal attacks online, especially those that are unsubstantiated have led to a feeling that the online virtual debating community is degenerating into verbal abuse and uncompromising dogmatism, both from the political left and right. These reckless and vicious contributors end up dissuading others who may otherwise wish to engage in a more cool-headed and rational debate, dialogue and deliberation.
       On the other hand, the risk of having the ICT Ministry monitor some political views is a potential hazard for some of the contributors and a damning verdict on the state of Thai democracy.
       There's also the issue of digital-divide which restricts this new online public sphere to an arena for mostly the educated middle class and elite. Also, some of the online sites tend to be too specialised and parochial to claim to have a greater concern for society and serve as a public arena.
       Does online interaction also serve as a disincentive to people from meeting face-to-face to discuss and act together for a common political cause as some may have felt they have already spent much energy online? There is no easy answer and some would argue otherwise.
       Another caveat is the issue of how many people are really engaged in such online political debate. Are there just a handful of regular contributors and how many carefully and open-mindedly read other postings? Can the site and debate qualify as a public sphere if less than a dozen people, mostly using alias, participate? There's no clear answer.
       On the other hand, proponents and optimists say this is the most politically open public space to date, and not just for Thailand, as virtual reality knows no boundaries.
       Unlike the print media, anyone with an access to the Internet can just type their political view and conviction with minimum or no censorship - though some eventually ended up convicted for violating the lese majeste law.
       The arena is also technically open to all. The debating thread interactive and the discussion and debate can go on and on, in real time, and across the continents. People can learn from so many others of diverse background, age and gender, from people whom they may otherwise never meet in life and could deliberate, form a common judgement on particular issues if not eventually meet and act together off-line.
       The strength of online political debates and networking may also serve as a new force in countering what is otherwise an overwhelming state power and its control over most of the broadcast media, as well as corporations' pervasive influence over society, advocates say.
       In the end, whether one is optimistic or pessimistic, this new virtual sphere of political interaction is here to stay and as it proliferates and grows more thinking is needed on how to make it more public and conducive to the maturing of Thai politics and beyond.

TOT's FTTx service set for this year

2009-09-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

       TOT will "definitely" launch a fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) broadband-Internet service in Bangkok, Phuket and Hua Hin this year, a senior executive said yesterday.
       Senior executive vice president Sujin Kodsup said TOT was also developing multimedia content for FTTx customers in addition to the broadband connection via direct fibre-optic link.
       FTTx - x can represent home, building or premises - involves connecting a customer with a direct fibre-optic link via a service provider, in order to receive voice and data services.
       Sujin said the FTTx service would be useless without multimedia content for the customers.
       Many content-makers have approached TOT about being a partner in the project, but the company has yet to conclude any deals.
       He declined to specify the cost of the project's development.
       CAT Telecom is another state agency planning to launch an FTTx service in Bangkok, at a cost of Bt6 billion. The project is expected to yield an investment return rate of 15 per cent and break even in five years and one month.
       Meanwhile, TOT yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with property and construction firm Supalai to provide Wi-Fi connections to e-conferencing systems and FTTx services to all of Supalai's projects.
       Supalai deputy managing director Atip Bijanonda said such information- and communications-technology (ICT) services would add value to the company's property projects and distinguish them from those of its competitors.
       Sujin said the MoU allowed TOT to provide ICT services to all of Supalai's 30 existing house and condominium projects, as well as future ones.
       However, it is not an exclusive deal.
       TOT has already started providing some ICT services to Supalai at a cost of Bt2 million to Bt3 million per project.
       The exact cost per project will depend on the types of services needed.
       Sujin said TOT had also approached another major property firm, Land & Houses, about a similar FTTx deal.

DTAC begins Bangkok trial of 3G wireless broadband

2009-08-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

       Total Access Communication (DTAC) yesterday kicked off a non-commercial trial of a third-generation wireless broadband service on its existing 850-megahertz spectrum.
       The move is aimed at preparing itself for the expected granting of 3G licences.
       CEO Tore Johnsen said the main purpose of the "DTAC Mobile Internet on 3G" trial was not to test the well-proven 3G technology, but rather to ensure the company's operations were prepared for upcoming commercial operations, especially the granting of new 3G licences.
       The area covered by the initial phase of the trial includes Chulalongkorn University, Pantip Plaza, MBK Centre, Siam Square, the Samyan area and Chamchuri Square, using 18 3G base stations. The coverage area will soon be expanded to other areas of Bangkok from an additional 18 base stations.
       DTAC will start giving out free 3G air cards and free airtime today to 2,000 selected users of laptop computers who will access the wireless broadband Internet service via the 3G network throughout the trial period, which runs until December 31.
       The trial will cost Bt100 million, for
       network development and marketing activities.
       Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True Move have already test-launched 3G services on their existing spectra, ahead of DTAC.
       AIS began a trial on its existing 900MHz spectrum in Chiang Mai in June 2008 and later in central Bangkok, while True Move recently launched a 3G trial on its 800MHz spectrum in central Bangkok and Hua Hin.
       During its trial, DTAC plans to conduct a customer survey to gather feedback on customer satisfaction, giving it better insight into customer behaviour and demands and assisting in the design of better products and services.
       DTAC cited studies by the National Statistical Office, TOT and the Boston Consulting Group that found the number of broadband subscribers in Thailand rose from 200,000 in 2000 to 1.8 million last year. However, it said broadband use was still limited by coverage from fixed-line networks that did not reach households in remote areas.
       DTAC has said many times it wants to launch 3G services on both the 850MHz and 2.1-gigahertz spectra.
       The National Telecommunications Commission plans to auction four licences on the 2.1GHz 3G spectrum but has yet to set a date. Telecommunications-industry sources believe the auction will take place either late this year or early next year.
       DTAC is also waiting for a state committee set up under Article 22 of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act to approve the commercial launch of its 3G service on the 850MHz spectrum. Earlier, CAT Telecom, which owns DTAC's mobile concession, said it expected approval to be given in this year's second quarter.
       Meanwhile, Johnsen said he believed Thailand's economy would pick up slightly in the second half of the year but cautioned a full recovery would take time.

Post office aims for B700m

2009-08-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

       Thailand Post says it will try to achieve its target of 700 million baht in profit this year, even though domestic politics and the global recession will affect international transport.
       Ormsin Cheewaplueck, the president of Thailand Post, said that half-year performance had fallen short of the original target because of political turmoil and the recession.
       Total revenues were 7.39 billion baht,with communications taking the highest share at 74%, with 9.9% coming from logistics,6.4% from financial business and 6% from retail.
       He said that although the 700-millionbaht target could be hard to achieve, he was confident the second half would generate at least 350 million baht in profit. The state enterprise earned 263 million baht in profit in the first half.
       Thailand Post plans to increase rev-enues in the short term by extending service hours at its service points and mobile service points in industrial estates as well as by opening more outlets.
       It also plans to sell rare stamps, install more postboxes and service points and install more satellite dishes.
       For the long term, he said, the company would focus on personnel improvement, as it has 21,000 staff, and upgrading its IT system.
       Thailand Post entered its seventh year of operation after separating itself from the Communications Authority of Thailand in 2003. The postal service was losing an average of 1.2 billion baht a year before separation.
       After separation, Thailand Post has grown with net profit increasing yearly since 2004 from 229 million baht to 1.78 billion in 2007. Last year it earned 972 million baht in profit.

NOT ENOUGH IPHONE 3GS PHONES SENT OVER TO MEET LOCAL DEMAND

2009-08-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

       Many customers who booked iPhone 3GS mobile phones will have to wait until the middle of next month because the first shipment from Apple was not enough to go around.
       Papon Ratanachaikanont, assistant to the president and CEO of True Move as well as deputy group chief commercial officer of True Corp, said yesterday that more than 10,000 phones had been pre-ordered but Apple only supplied 3,500 of the latest models in the first lot.
       The first batch will go to those who had specified tomorrow as the delivery date, though those expecting to pick their phones up from Saturday to next Thursday will have to wait for the next lot.
       The new lot is expected to arrive some time next week and should be available from the second week of next month. However, Papon could not say how many 3GS phones would be delivered in the second lot.
       Customers having to wait for the second lot will be receive a free iPhone leather case as a kind of consolation for the delayed delivery.
       There some 3,500 customers waiting to pick up their phones tomorrow and most of them are in Bangkok.
       True Move allowed people to reserve the devices from August 5-24 for a deposit of Bt2,000. The customers could set a date for pick up between August 28 and September 3. The 16-gigabyte 3GS phone costs Bt24,500, while the 32GB model goes for Bt28,500.
       Papon said several other countries, such as Australia, Taiwan and Singapore, have also experienced the same shortage mainly due to the higher-than-expected demand for the 3GS model, which is a newer version of the iPhone 3G phone.
       Those who want to cancel their order and take their Bt2,000 deposit back can do so at all True Move shops from Tuesday onward.
       The supply for local consumers should stabilise next month, Papon said.
       True Move should be able to make the phones available at all its shops nationwide on September 11.
       Papon is not concerned that the supply shortage would have people to rushing to purchase smuggled 3GS phones.
       He said pre-bookings for the 3GS model was three times that of the 3G iPhones early this year.
       True Move is the exclusive authorised cellular service provider for 3G iPhones here and expects sales of the 3GS iPhone model to exceed 50,000 units this year.

Thailand Post looks set to miss profit target

2009-08-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

       Thailand Post is likely to miss its profit goal of Bt700 million this year, due to the deteriorating economy.
       "Thailand Post will have to seek new revenue sources and continue to cut operating costs," president Ormsin Chivaprueck said yesterday.
       The state enterprise had expected net profit to reach Bt900 million this year before recently revising the figure downward to Bt700 million.
       But Ormsin yesterday said it would earn Bt350 million in the second half after eking out a net profit of Bt263 million in the first half.
       Last year it made Bt972 million.
       This year it projects total revenue of Bt15 billion, down from Bt16 billion last year. In the first half, revenue was Bt7.37 billion.
       The state enterprise has witnessed declining numbers of delivered mail, while the Internet has become a common communications choice of people and has stolen some of its mail business.
       More than 74 per cent of its revenue comes from the communications business, which includes mail delivery service, while the second main contributor is its logistics service.
       Of first-half revenue, Bt5.47 billion was generated by the communications business and Bt729 million by the logistics business.
       Thailand Post was the postal unit of the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) before it was split off and corporatised in August 2003, while CAT became CAT Telecom.
       It has more than 20,000 employees and 1,000 branches nationwide.
       Since gaining its own identity, Thailand Post has kept launching services to boost revenues, ranging from logistics to utility-bill payment at its post offices and also food delivery.

US broadband speeds still lagging

2009-08-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

       The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.
       The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps)- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.
       "Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps," the report said.
       It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.
       "The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said."Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."
       "People in Japan can upload a highdefinition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," the report said.
       It said 18% of those who took a US speed test recorded download speeds that were slower than 768 kilobits per second, which does not even qualify as basic broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
       And 64% connected at up to 10 mbps,19% connected at speeds greater than 10 mbps and two percent exceeded 25 mbps.
       The United States was ranked 20th in broadband penetration in a survey of 58 countries released earlier this year by Boston-based Strategy Analytics.
       South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.
       US President Barack Obama has pledged to put broadband in every home and the FCC has embarked on an ambitious project to bring high-speed Internet access to every corner of the United States.
       According to the CWA report, the fastest download speeds in the United States are in the northeastern parts of the country while the slowest are in states such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

USPS seeks 30,000 job reductions

2009-08-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

       The US Postal Service,the country's second-largest employer,offered buyouts on Tuesday to quickly slash up to 30,000 jobs as it grapples with declining mail volume and embraces more automation.
       The incentive for voluntary resignations and early retirements among a pool of veteran workers by the end of September "is part of a drive to cut costs by $6 billion this fiscal year," the Postal Service said.
       "This decision reflects our desire to provide a fair and equitable opportunity for some of our longest-serving employees," said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president.
       "It is important to the Postal Service that we take appropriate measures to address our current financial situation,"he added.
       The majority of those offered $15,000 to leave as part of an agreement with unions - up to 30,000 people - work in mail processing facilities. The Postal Service hopes to save up to $500 million from the move.
       The job cut target is similar in scope to employment reductions by US automakers and certain banks, and comes amid signs that the recession may have bottomed out.
       The Postal Service, which is a quasigovernment agency that relies on postage sales and revenue from other products and services to fund operations, reported a $2.4 billion loss in the quarter ended June 30.
       The agency has wracked up net losses in 11 of the past 12 fiscal quarters.
       Traditional mail volume has been fallen sharply as e-mail has proliferated along with online services such as electronic bill payment, officials have said.
       The Postal Service has 656,000 career employees, second behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc which has more than 1.4 million workers in the United States.
       Other cost cuts this year have included decisions to close facilities, pare construction, a nationwide hiring freeze,and selling underutilised and unused facilities.
       The Postal Service also competes with US package delivery giants UPS Inc and FedEx Corp for some services as well as other companies.

Ill wind blows no good

2009-08-26T00:31:00.001-07:00

       Morakot was no Emerald; it was an ill wind that whipped up seas and cut or damaged six separated fibre-optic cables carrying Internet traffic to Thailand; the typhoon itself never hit Thailand, but while it killed an estimated 500 Taiwanese,Morakot caused deep-sea landslides that severed three cables and disrupted three others, including the SWM-3 (Southeast Asia - Middle East - Western Europe 3)and both APCN (Asia Pacific Cable Network) that carry Internet and telephone traffic to and from Thailand; the Net slowed noticeably, but picked up after a couple of days when engineers managed to quickly repair the APCN2 cable between Singapore and Malaysia, while traffic was re-routed to other systems.
       The top three yuppiephone networks announced a convoluted "solution" to SMS spam, now estimated at nine million annoyances a day; starting next Monday, if you get an unwanted commercial message on your mobile phone,call your network's anti-spam centre,explained what happened, and they will try to block any other calls from the spammer - the AIS number to call is 1175,DTAC is 1678 and True Move is1331, and the theory is that the 30-million-baht software they have installed and the highly trained staff they have hired will combine to block the spam across all three networks; Thana Thienachariya, chief commercial officer at DTAC, said blocking spam would cut revenue at all three yuppiephone firms, who have profited by selling SMS time in blocks to advertisers; in other words, he already knows where the calls are coming from.
       Bangkok telephone provider True Corp and their yuppiephone subsidiary True Move began advertising "revolutionary" international phone rates of "only" three baht a minute to mostcalled countries; the rate, cheap at half the price, is about half what the telecoms duopoly of your TOT and your Cattelecom charge, but about twice the cost of the most popular long-distance specialists like DeeDial and ZayHi ; the True rates only will last until New Year's Eve.
       If corporate diversification is a sign that the recession is ending, then we got good news from Delta Electronics (Thailand); president Henry Shieh said the Taiwan-based electronics firm is about to acquire solar-power equipment makers in the US and Europe to get out of traditional electric sources and into larger technology areas; he bragged that,"Our cash on hand of over 8 billion baht also supports our investments,"and while Thailand plants are running at only 65 percent capacity making fans and converters, profits in the second quarter were still a healthy 301 million baht.
       Also upbeat: CEO Watchai Vilailuck ofSamart Corp , who said business was looking up, with revenues increasing by 17 percent year on year in the second quarter to 4.44 billion baht; although profit remained stagnant at just under 125 million, Mr Watchai said he sees clear economic skies ahead, and expects to introduce 20 new yuppiephone handsets before New Year's Eve to feed what he is certain is growing demand in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia, as well as Thailand.
       Not everyone was bragging and sunny; No 1 yuppiephone firm Advanced Info Service of Shingapore announced major changes at the very top of the firm's food chain to try to adjust to negative growth and increased competition; AIS tried to spin the changes as restructuring, but in fact the major changes were personnel; Singaporean Hui Weng Cheong was promoted from deputy president to the newly created position of chief operating officer, where he will take over marketing, customer management and handset distribution;president Wichian Mektrakarn was moved to CEO and the president's position was dissolved; AIS has recently realistically changed its revenue target from 4 percent growth to minus-3 percent, bizarrely blaming oil prices and the flu pandemic; chairman Somprasong Boonyachai said you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking the changes at the top were because of poor operating results, it's just all part of a careful,long-planned succession plan.
       The company formerly known as Shin Satellite insisted it will break out of its habit of losses and break even this year,thanks to higher bandwidth sales from its iPSTAR broadband satellite; it's not all rosy for Thaicom , however; Tanadit Charoenchan, executive president of vice, revealed that,"We expect iPSTAR's bandwidth usage to reach 15 percent this year, up from 10 percent currently."
       Then there is Grammy Entertainment , which reported no harm, no foul in its first-half results, a profit of 314.2 million baht on slightly increased revenue of 3.95 billion, boosted almost exclusively by TV programming, while music sales fell four per cent.
       Finally, consider the case of bank employee Nawanit Noichana,; he posted a message on the Sanook.com forums soliciting readers to have sex with a certain Ms Som, and providing her real phone number; it was all a prank or something worse, because Ms Som was certainly not that kind of woman; the Criminal Court judge found him guilty under the Computer Crime Act, but then sentenced him to just 12 hours of community service and a one-year suspended imprisonment.

Game of denial

2009-08-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

       The Malaysian government announced then denied it intends to set up filters to block undesirable Internet content like its northern neighbour; on Friday morning, Information Minister Rais Yatim told newsmen he planned to put in filters to block all that "undesirable content";the following Thursday, after talking with Prime Minister, Najib Razak, Mr Yatim announced that existing laws were plenty strong enough to find and to prosecute actual sedition, fraud and child pornography, and he cancelled the country's calls for bids to supply an Internet filter system. China announced that it no longer planned to demand that all personal computers must have the flawed and official censorware program Green Dam ; Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology,said only schools and Internet cafes would be compelled to install the software; he actually said with a straight face it was only "to protect the children".
       A week after fixing 18 security holes in Mac OS X,Apple Inc issued a security patch for the Bind Internet server standard, which allowed remote hackers to crash servers; Apple also issued a passel of security patches for the hackerfriendly Safari browser, Apple and Windows editions, including a nasty bug whereby a hacker could get Safari to list his malicious website as a Top Site.
       Number 1 operating system peddlers Microsoft of America and No 1 yuppiephone tinkers Nokia of Finland announced a joint venture to port Microsoft Office to Nokia phones under the Symbian operating system; it's hard to imagine why anyone would want an office suite on a 2-inch screen, but apparently Nokia executives have convinced Microsoft they need the system to stomp and kick the nice BlackBerry maker Research In Motion .Microsoft announced that Office 2010 for the Apple Mac was on schedule,sort of, and should be ready for sale for the New Year's Eve shopping season next year ; well, that's 2010, right?A judge in Texas told Microsoft tostop selling editions of Word that use custom XML tagging technology; Microsoft lost a patent lawsuit over the XML format to the nice I4i firm, but it will appeal the ruling and won't stop selling Word for a day.Microsoft showed some photos of its new Zune HD, the music player that will certainly crush the Apple iPod; in a huge, shock surprise, the Zune prices will be held under iPod prices; it will have a web browser and the ability to copy high-def video to an HDTV (dock not included).
       A British politician who would be prime minister wants to fine every person sharing a file illegally on the Internet to be find ฃ50,000, or 2.8 million baht in real money; Business Secretary Lord Mandelson of the Labour Party said he was "persuaded by the argument for tough laws" against all that piracy that's going on by seven million of his countrymen - after a dinner at the Greek island of Corfu, paid entirely by his close entertainment buddy David Geffen and the Rothschild bank.US President Barack Obama and his government ordered government-run Internet sites to resume dealing cookies to surfers, spurring major privacy concerns from serious civil liberties groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation; the groups also blamed private companies, principally Google ,for forcing government sites to use cookies in exchange for permission for the government to use its sites, such as posting videos on YouTube ; Vivek Kundra, the government's chief information officer, explained that the new policy is to improve customer service,but he was in such a hurry he forgot to explain what advantages the government was getting out of suddenly resuming its tracking of users.
       Sara Morishige Williams, wife of Twitter CEO Evan Williams, provided graphic examples of "too much information"when she tweeted the birth of her child,minute by minute to 14,000 followers;things we didn't really have to know included "My water broke. It wasn't like Charlotte in Sex and the City . Now,timing contractions on an iPhone app"and "The Contraction Tracker was fun until the contractions got painful";thankfully her husband tweeted nothing.
       The World Trade Organisation told China it had to stop censoring films,DVDs and books by funnelling all imports through state agencies; ruling on a suit brought by the United States, the WTO ordered China to open market access; the US claimed that by controlling such imports, China was increasing the demand for pirated goods.
       In a report by OECD, the "developed"countries named and shamed the countries with the world's highest mobile phone charges: Canada, Spain and the United States, in that order; the lowest charges among the 30-member OECD were in Finland, with Holland and Sweden a tad higher.Toshiba moved to the dark side; after years spent inventing and championing the losing HD DVD format for high-density disks,Toshiba became a gracious loser and started making Blu-Ray players, now the standard but not yet fabulously popular.

TOT trying to kickstart stalled 3G plan

2009-08-26T00:29:00.000-07:00

       TOT may withdraw its revised 29-billionbaht 3G project from the cabinet and use the previous draft because the project appears to be stalled.
       Board spokesman Ratian Srimongkol said the state telecom enterprise submitted the revised 3G project to the cabinet several months ago but so far there was no sign it would be tabled for approval.
       The revised project calls for general bidding for the third-generation mobile service and local financing for flexibility.
       He said that as further delays in the 3G launch scheduled for Dec 5 could disrupt its business opportunities and marketing strategies, it would be better to use the original plan approved earlier by the previous government.
       The original plan allows TOT to seek international financing in the form of export credits and to call international bidding.
       TOT intends to upgrade 533 base stations of its subsidiary Thai Mobile so that it can start offering services by Dec 5, covering areas along the Airport Link route.
       He said TOT earlier feared international bidding could pose problems in documentation, as requests need to be in English and sent to the foreign embassies of all bidders.
       The process takes time to translate the documents. But the spokesman said such problems have been resolved and TOT was ready for such documents to be sent.
       If the revised project is withdrawn,TOT could use the original plan to call international bidding and seek foreign funds to launch its 3G project immediately.

Thailand Post's franchise system flourishing

2009-08-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

       Thailand Post Shop at the Robinson department store on Ratchadaphisek earns between Bt60,000 and Bt70,000 net on average every month and comes second only to another shop in Lat Krabang Community Housing Project, which earns about Bt100,000 per month. And all this success comes from a novel business idea.
       Thailand Post, under the jurisdiction of the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, has so far granted franchising licenses to 27 shops nationwide, under which individuals offer postal services instead of the state agency. And these shops, based in convenient locations, which along with the business acumen of entrepreneurs help guarantee returning customers, only increase revenues for Thailand Post.
       A worker at the Ratchada outlet, who asked not to be named, said they were working hard to keep improving customer services. "If we satisfy customers, they will keep coming back," the worker said, adding that being based in a shopping centre also helped draw traffic because city residents prefer to complete everything in one venue.
       The shop, which offers Pay at Post options along with traditional mailing services, caters to about 100 customers per day.
       Reports of this outlet's success drew 14 post officials - in Bangkok to take postal management courses at the Asian Pacific Postal College (APPC) - to the shop on August 19. The officials hail from Japan, China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, the Maldives and Thailand.
       A similar franchise system has also proved successful in Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, India and Pakistan.
       APPC's course director Wasim Zafar said he had chosen this shop as a case study because it was the perfect example of a partnership between the public and private sectors.
       "Business is better handled in the private sector, because shop owners stop at nothing to attract customers," he explained, adding that he hoped officials doing this course would implement similar systems back home.
       One of the visiting officials, Maldives Post's assistant manager for sales, Rifath Ali, said she was impressed with the new concept and hoped it would be adopted in her own country.
       "Everybody is suffering from the economic crisis, so we have to find new ways to improve our post offices. Post offices in the Maldives come under the state. But hopefully in the future we will be able to join up with big business and earn more," she said.
       Thailand Post has cut its 2009 net-profit target to Bt870 million.
       Wasim said e-commerce could be another way to boost income.
       "People can do paperless payment, but deliveries cannot be paperless," he said.

TELECOM UNION URGES ACCESS FOR DISABLED

2009-08-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

       The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is urging lawmakers and regulators in Asia-Pacific countries to make a greater effort to provide access to information and communication technology for disabled people.
       The message will be delivered at an Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Mainstreaming ICT Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities which starts today at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok and runs until Thursday.
       The head of the ITU's Asia-Pacific regional office, Eun-Ju Kim, said the forum would also introduce the "e-Accessible Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities", developed by ITU and G3ict.
       The policy toolkit aims to support various stakeholders in developing policies and strategies for ICT accessibility for disabled people, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
       The toolkit provides a framework for developing policies and strategies for mainstreaming digital accessibility at regional, national and international levels and offers specific guidance to developing countries.
       "We aim to raise awareness and generate momentum for the implementation of the CRPD, especially in countries across this region. Participants at the forum will exchange experiences and case studies, as well as learning about innovative ICT-accessibility measures for disabled people, especially through assistive technologies and applications," Kim said.
       She said that initiatives in Thailand for ICT accessibility for disabled people, led by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who was also one of ITU's Patrons, had been carried out. However, the government still needed to take action.
       "ICT accessibility policies, especially for disabled people, will not emerge overnight. Consistent and persistent steps must be taken to properly design policies and to implement them for an effective ICT-accessible environment in any given country," Kim said.
       ICT-accessibility issues must be considered in relevant laws, regulations, policies and programmes at all stages from design to implementation. She gave as examples Web technologies including information services, websites and online applications; public access terminals such as ATMs, information kiosks, vending machines, information displays, point-of-sale payment systems and door-entry systems; and application software, telecommunication devices and services.
       The most recent survey in Thailand, undertaken by the National Statistical Office in 2007, showed that around 1.9 million people, or about 2.9 per cent of the population, had disabilities.
       Despite efforts to bridge the digital divide, the gap for disabled people is getting wider and deeper as they fail to catch up with new technologies and services, while assistive technologies, devices and applications specifically designed for these people are barely affordable, she said.
       Kim emphasised the role of not only policy-makers and regulators, but also that of industries, in their ability to contribute appropriate designs and affordable ICT products and services for disabled people - taking into account potential markets in an ageing society.
       "ICT products and services built with the needs of disabled people in mind will be easier for everyone to use. This helps people who are not technologically skilled to use these products and services. Otherwise, they will be intimidated by them and won't use them," she said.
       The ITU will continue to promote the toolkit and deliver appropriate training based on the toolkit to various stakeholders, including policy-makers, regulators and others interested in mainstreaming, developing and implementing ICT accessibility issues for disabled people.
       "In Thailand, the ITU is working with the ICT Ministry, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Nectec in areas such as accessibility standards, telecommunications relay services, policy and regulations and human-capacity building," Kim said.

NECTEC G-BOX CHECKS DRIVERS AND DELIVERIES

2009-08-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

       Device monitors position, speed, status, allows voice contact
       The National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) has developed a computer-based system to maintain real-time surveillance over the behaviour of transport drivers and remotely monitor the progress of deliveries by road.
       The system is called the G-Box, having been developed as a driving assistance system in the centre's so-called Generic Box Project. Nectec, which developed the G-Box as a means of minimising transport risks to businesses, expects the technology to be ready for commercial use in the near future.
       The director of Nectec's Intelligent Transport Systems Programme, Passakorn Pathombutr, said that the G-Box, which would be located in transport trailers, rather than in the prime mover or driving cabin, aimed to check the status of the trailer and its cargo from point of origin to destination. The technology is based on embedded systems and open-source software. The status of the trailer will be displayed constantly on a monitor screen in the computer centre of the company's head office.
       The G-Box is integrated with a global positioning system (GPS) which provides both location and speed. The system will also report on the status of both the trailer and the engine control unit of the truck.
       The system will also provide useful real-time information to the driver during the journey, such as warning of accidents or road construction on the road ahead so that the driver can avoid troublesome spots. These warnings will be delivered to the driver about 20 kilometres before the site of the problem.
       The system will not only allow head-office administrators to check the status and location of the trailer and its load, but also to give the driver a verbal warning if the speed of the trailer exceeds speed limits set by the company or the law.
       "We are concerned about both security and the confidence of drivers," Passakorn said. "The G-Box can also check and control the behaviour of drivers while they are on the road."
       Nectec has installed prototype G-Boxes into two PTT truck-trailers hauling oil around the country. The next step is to transfer the technology to business partners so the G-Box will soon be available commercially to the public.
       He said the centre planned to implement and bundle controller area network technology, speech- and voice-recognition technology into the G-Box in the future so that the box will provide a gateway for truck-trailer drivers to communicate with other vehicles. Moreover, users will be able to access the Internet on the move, from cars, trucks or buses on which the G-Boxes are installed.
       Passakorn said the G-Box was also suitable for installation in school buses, taxis and passenger cars, to monitor driving economy or to oversee new drivers.

Shin says stake sale depends on market

2009-08-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

       A plan by Singapore's Temasek Holdings to sell its stake in Shin Corp will depend on market conditions, an executive at the company said yesterday.
       The plan is followed closely by investors as it is likely to increase the volume of Shin shares trading in the market.Some analysts see the stock as a good proxy for the telecoms industry but say the low free float is a trading risk.
       "Our major shareholder has a policy to dilute its stake, but timing will depend on the economic situation and market conditions," Tomyantee Kongpoolsilpa,a senior manager for investor relations at Shin, told reporters.
       Shin was founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and control of the company was sold to Temasek by his family back in 2006.
       Shin's free float dropped to under 4%, below the 15% threshold required by the Stock Exchange of Thailand, following Temasek's $3.8-billion takeover.
       Under a complicated structure, Shin is 96.12% owned by two Thai-registered companies, Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings.
       Aspen is owned directly by a Temasek subsidiary, while Cedar is 49% owned by Temasek.
       The Singapore state investment firm had planned to dilute its holding in Shin Corp to 49%, but the plan is on hold pending a probe into whether the takeover broke laws limiting foreign ownership of Thai firms to 49%.
       Kim Eng Securities said in a note that the Shin shares looked interesting because of third-generation mobile phone licences to be issued to its 43%-owned Advanced Info Service (AIS) and the progress of the iPSTAR satellite business run by its 41%-owned Thaicom.
       Shares in Shin, valued at $2.1 billion on the Thai bourse, ended 0.9% higher at 23 baht after touching a 12-month high of 23.30 baht earlier. The overall Thai stock market was 1.3% higher.
       The current value of Shin shares is under half the price Temasek paid,49.25 baht, in January 2006.
       Shin groups more than 20 companies in the wireless, satellite, Internet and media sectors, with AIS, Thailand's largest mobile-phone operator, contributing more than 80% of its profit.

SHIN CORP TO RAISE FREE FLOAT OF SHARES

2009-08-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

       Shin Corp has reaffirmed its plan to raise the free float of its shares, currently over 3 per cent, pending favourable timing and market situation.
       The Stock Exchange of Thailand requires listed firms to maintain a free float of at least 15 per cent, or face de-listing after a period of time.
       Tomyantee Kongpoolsilpa, Shin's senior manager for group investor relations, said yesterday that the company's shareholders have maintained the policy of increasing the number of the company's shares in the open market.
       Cedar Holdings and Aspen Holdings, which are controlled by Singapore's state investment arm Temasek Holdings, jointly acquired almost 50 per cent of Shin from its founders, members of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family, in January 2006.
       Both companies later raised their combined stake in Shin to the present 96 per cent after holding a mandatory tender offer.
       Tomyantee also said Shin was still studying possible investment opportunities.
       Shin's flagship businesses are Advanced Info Service (AIS), the country's largest cellular operator, in which it owns 42.7 per cent, and satellite operator Thaicom, in which it owns 41.1 per cent.
       Shin posted consolidated net profit in the first half of this year of Bt3.58 billion, down from Bt4.48 billion over the same half last year. Its share price yesterday closed at Bt23, up from Bt22.80 last Friday.
       AIS' second-quarter consolidated net profit plunged 33.7 per cent year on year to Bt4.2 billion, due to the seasonally weak quarter and economic decline.
       For the first half, net profit was down 23.5 per cent to Bt8.77 billion.
       AIS has 27.9 million subscribers.

Legal disputes could slow industry

2009-08-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

       More legal problems could impede the growth of the telecom industry by preventing the full implementation of three regulations issued by the National Telecommunications Commission, a telecom expert has warned.
       Anuparb Thiralarp, a former advisory member of the House Telecommunications Commission, said that at least three NTC regulations were likely to face challenges: mobile number port-ability, interconnection rates and standard contracts for consumers.
       The regulation for mobile number portability was issued on July 15 and became law after it was published in the Royal Gazette . It stipulates that mobile operators must be ready for people to use the service within three months,so that from the end of November mobile phone users can switch operators but retain their old numbers, he said.
       But private mobile phone operators have insisted they cannot meet the law's timeframe - a central traffic clearing system needs a year to be built and completed - and have informed the NTC, he said.
       The NTC's second headache is in-terconnection regulations, which became effective three years ago.
       But only three major mobile operators have entered the interconnection regime.
       The three operators merely book and clear their interconnection traffic fees on their financial statements as reserved items. The NTC has not penalised private operators that have yet to join the interconnection regime.
       A regulation on standard contracts also remains a paper tiger, despite being issued three years ago, he said.
       The standard contract between operators and customers is significant because it should protect customers in 11 aspects.
       Its clauses prohibit mobile operators from fixing expiry dates on prepaid cards,oblige operators to refund money left on prepaid cards and prevent operators from terminating services while engaged in legal disputes with customers.
       Mobile operators submitted copies of their standard contracts to the NTC for approval long ago and are still waiting for its endorsement, he said.
       These regulations have yet to be implemented and the consumer protection association on telecom services should speed up the process, he said.
       Mr Anuparb predicted legal disputes if customers wanted to take advantage of number portability but operators could not offer it.
       The Telecommunications Consumers Protection Institute and the NTC should be ready to receive complaints over this, he said.
       Several other problems between operators and customers are yet to be resolved, particularly operators who terminate the fixed-line or mobile services of defaulting customers and then demand fees and unpaid bills to restore services.
       The NTC told DTAC to refund a customer over this issue. But DTAC has appealed for a renewed investigation,he said.
       This case applied only to DTAC but other operators were still collecting reconnection fees, he said.

Joint bid for giant telescope

2009-08-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

       Australia and New Zealand announced a joint bid yesterday for a giant radio telescope project which will seek out the earliest traces of the universe in a search for intelligent life.
       The Pacific neighbours said their joint $2.1 billion bid was one of two on the shortlist for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a project which will use 4,000 telescopes as a single device to tap into deep space.
       "The SKA project promises to be a top global science project of the 21st century, using one of the world's most powerful computers to explore fundamental questions in science," said New Zealand Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee.
       The array, which will be able to see back to the formation of the first stars,was one of the world's most significant "mega-science" projects, said Mr Brownlee, who signed the formal agreement in Sydney yesterday.
       Australia's Science Minister Kim Carr said the joint bid proposed erecting 4,000 antennas that would stretch 5,000km from Australia's west coast to New Zealand, and described the trans-Tasman involvement as "crucial".
       A final decision on whether Australia and New Zealand or rival bidder South Africa will host the SKA will be made in 2012, and construction will take between six and eight years, the ministers said.
       Australia has already outbid Argentina,China and the US to make the final two.
       A global consortium involving more than 50 institutions from 19 countries was driving the SKA programme, and money for the project was expected to come from international partner governments, they added.
       The SKA would be 10,000 times more powerful than current instruments and will try to determine whether there is intelligent life beyond Earth and what happened after the Big Bang.

CAT TO FORM PARTNERSHIP

2009-08-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

       The board of CAT Telecom recently instructed the state agency to prepare to seek a partner to bid jointly for a third-generation wireless-broadband spectrum licence.
       CAT executive committee chairman Krisda Kaweeyarn said the board had told management to study several possible partnership models and that the potential partner could be either a local or a foreign telecom operator.
       Krisda believes some telecom operators are interested in joining with CAT to bid for a third-generation licence.
       "The 3G business is the road to go down, as we've focused on the wireless and wire-line businesses," he said.
       The National Telecommunications Commission will auction four 3G 2.1-gigahertz spectrum licences but has yet to specify the date. It is expected to put the licences up for auction late this year or early next.
       The watchdog's 3G licensing consultant, Nera, is working out the details of the auction process.
       CAT is also working out the business strategy and marketing plan for its fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) business, which will provide broadband access and multimedia content to customers' premises via the direct link of a fibre-optic network, Krisda said.
       The board recently approved the state agency's spending of Bt6 billion to develop the FTTx service in greater Bangkok. The service, to be launched within the next two years, initially targets 400,000 customers.
       He said CAT would launch the service in other major provinces after the service debut in Bangkok.
       Many companies have shown interest in being multimedia content partners for CAT's FTTx business.
       Krisda believes CAT will be able to post a net operating profit this year, due to its ongoing cost-reduction programme, while its main business of international calling has continued to launch aggressive marketing campaigns in a bid to boost revenue.
       CAT's Code Division Multiple Access 2000 1-x cellular service in 51 provinces currently has 350,000 subscribers, against a target of 500,000 for this year.
       The agency recorded revenue of Bt23.79 billion for the first half, down 3 per cent year on year, for a net profit oft Bt3.98 billion, down 13 per cent. Excluding concession revenue, CAT posted income of Bt9.35 billion for a net loss of Bt286 million for the period.
       Of the first-half revenue, Bt1.1 billion was contributed by its cellular-service marketing joint venture, Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia.
       CAT targets overall revenue of Bt52 billion for a net profit of Bt9.26 billion this year.
       In a separate matter, True Move, which is providing 3G service on its 1,800-megahertz spectrum on a non-commercial basis, recently asked for CAT's permission to begin offering the service commercially. True Move holds the mobile-phone service concession of CAT.
       Krisda said the CAT board, which had just assumed office, needed time to consider the request.

NEW IT SYSTEMS TO REVITALISE TOT

2009-08-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

       TOT will enhance its back-end information-technology infrastructure and develop an enterprise information system (Entis) to improve the quality of its services, support its organisation and customers and provide for new services in the future.
       Senior executive vice president Kittipong Tameyapradit said because TOT was a large organisation, it had to deal with huge amounts of information was scattered. Therefore, the company plans to develop the Entis to improve its database management and the quality of its services.
       Entis is an integrated data warehouse and data-mining system capable of providing analyses and helping executives to make business and operational decisions. The system will also assist in management of TOT's finances, human resources and networking. It will break down the complexity of the organisation's reporting requirements, replacing more than 1,700 reports with about 200 in future.
       It is expected to save the cost of TOT's annual investment-related report, involving 453 brkanch offices and delivering around Bt60 million to the company's head office every year.
       Moreover, TOT is adopting technology to change the management of its 1177 call centre, which handles complaints. Geographical information systems (GISs) and customer-relationship management (CRM) systems are being integrated into the call centre's technology. Information will be recorded in a database and customer locations monitored so services can be provided efficiently and the location of calls displayed on a monitor screen.
       The changes will also enhance the company's provision of service-level agreements with large customers.
       "We have now integrated GIS into the system in Phuket and plan to invest Bt180 million to integrate it into the system in six more provinces, so that staff are able to monitor information and the location of customers without needing to go into the field before services are provided. Meanwhile, executives will able to access real-time information from their computers," Kittipong said.
       Formerly, when customers reported a breakdown in services from fixed telephone lines or other network infrastructure, TOT had to send staff into the field to check the condition of the network. With the new system, staff will able to monitor the customer's problem and location, and the state of the network infrastructure, from display monitors in the office. As result, the company will be able to provide services in 15 minutes rather than three days.
       TOT expects to invest around Bt1 billion next year to develop billing management and CRM systems to support existing and new services.
       The billing-management system is aimed at delivering a single bill to customers covering a range of services.
       "We have already integrated service-fee charges for new third-generation telephone services and existing ADSL as well as fixed-line telephone fees. As result, customers will able to pay for all these services with only one bill," Kittipong said.
       TOT is also planning to enter business partnerships, both international and domestic, to develop Internet-protocol television services in the near future, he said.

CAT TO SET UP PANEL TO SOLVE DISPUTE WITH EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER HUAWEI

2009-08-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

       CAT Telecom will set up a committee to seek ways to end the legal dispute between the state agency and China's telecom-equipment supplier Huawei Technologies relating to CAT's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1-x cellular network.
       There is also a report that early this month the Chinese embassy in Thailand wrote to the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, urging it to seek a solution to the problem.
       Krisda Kaweeyarn, chairman of the CAT executive committee, yesterday said his committee would propose for board approval today the establishment of a dispute-settlement panel, which would coordinate with Huawei on the matter.
       He said both parties might have to agree to take a step back from their current stand-off in order to solve the problem.
       In 2005, Huawei quoted Bt7.2 billion to win a contract from CAT to provide 1,600 base stations for the CDMA network to the state agency.
       The project was divided into two phases, each featuring the supply of 800 base stations and eventually covering 51 provinces.
       CAT, however, alleges that Huawei was late in delivering the second-phase network equipment.
       Huawei has claimed the problem stemmed from different interpretations of the contract, which it said required it to deliver the second phase by January 2007, while the accompanying Evolution Data/Voice (EV-DV) high-speed data transmission system would be completely installed the following year.
       But CAT reads the contract to mean the entire network, including software, had to be delivered by January 2007.
       Huawei eventually installed the Evolution-Data Optimised (EV-DO) Release A system for CAT instead.
       In December 2007, Huawei requested the Central Administrative Court to order CAT to pay the second instalment due on February 2007 of 25 per cent of the CDMA project value of Bt7.2 billion. The state enterprise had paid the first 25-per-cent instalment in 2006.
       In January 2008, CAT took Huawei to the Central Administrative Court over alleged late delivery of the cellular network.
       CAT has pinned its hopes on CDMA service being its flagship amid fiercer competition from private mobile-phone operators in its existing main business of overseas call service.
       Hutchison-CAT Wireless Multimedia, a joint venture between CAT and Hong Kong telecom giant Hutchison Telecom, has provided cellular service on a separate CDMA network in 25 provinces. Hutchison-CAT has leased the network from BFKT, which is wholly owned by Hutchison Telecom, to provide the service.
       The state agency is in talks with Hutchison Telecom on the plan to take over the BFKT network and merge it with its network in 51 provinces, in order to strengthen its cellular-service marketing.

NTC nominations due soon

2009-08-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

       The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry expects to soon submit to the Senate the names of candidates for the four vacant seats on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
       The NTC board is supposed to have seven members but currently has only three members.
       Thaneerat Siripachana, chairman of the ministry's selection committee, said three positions were left vacant after members drew lots after finishing three years of service. But the directors are still playing an acting role although the lots were drawn two years ago.
       Another seat was left vacant after board member Artorn Chantvimol resigned.
       The law requires board members to draw lots to leave after finishing half of their six-year term of service.
       Mr Thaneerat said 24 candidates had applied for the three vacant seats and a shortlist of six would be submitted to the Senate. Eleven people have applied for Mr Artorn's job and eight are still being screened. The committee will propose two names to the Senate.
       By next month, he expected the full NTC board could be appointed.

Thailand urged to reach for the cloud

2009-08-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

       Analyst are warning policymakers they need to pay attention and ensure Thailand doesn't miss out on the potential of cloud computing, which must become part of each country's ICT industry policy.
       Dr Steve Hodgkinson, Research Director at Ovum, said after recent discussions with a range of public sector ICT policy executives across the Asia-Pacific region, it is apparent that cloud computing is on their radar - and that it is viewed by many as more of a threat than an opportunity.
       In the past, governments have benefited symbiotically from the growth of global ICT companies,driving e-government innovations and establishing vibrant domestic ICT industries of channel and services partners.
       However, cloud computing creates the potential for more complete encapsulation and offshoring of ICT soft-ware, platforms and infrastructure than has previously been possible. This could encourage an unprecedented vortex of ICT services into North American-based global cloud providers.
       Cloud computing is a scale game bigger is better, and first movers become biggest first. Scale is required to provide the cloud with value proposition of ubiquitous access, seamless elastic capacity,competitive pricing and continuous investment in functionality and security.
       The cloud is also a "build it and they will come" gamble, similar to a motorway. You need to have built excess capacity in the infrastructure up front to offer scalable and pay-as-you-go cloud services. The capacity to fund this upfront investment is a prerequisite for cloud leadership.
       This is a challenging policy conundrum for governments. Leave it to the free market and risk local-market ICT jobs getting sucked offshore into a global cloud, or take proactive policy action. It won't be possible to close the borders or put import tariffs on the cloud.
       A necessary self-defence
       ICT policy executives should be considering the risks and opportunities cloud computing presents. Cloud computing may lead to undesirable offshoring of data, as well as jobs. The fact that the cloud is global while legal systems are national creates unavoidable data security and privacy tensions.
       The creation of national cloud computing entities can address both issues.National clouds will provide onshore opportunities for the local ICT industry and promote the trustworthiness of cloud computing by enabling data to stay within governance arrangements that are compliant with national legislation.
       However, who in a small or mediumsized country can compete with the likes of Amazon, Google, IBM or Microsoft?
       Govt, national telcos form G-cloud
       In practice, leadership of the strategy for a country's participation in cloud computing must come from the government, using two main levers: industry policy and the government's own internal ICT spend. Governments need to decide how they should add momentum to the development of onshore clouds.
       Investment requirements mean that there are not too many other players in a country's domestic market with the motivation and resources required to build cloud computing infrastructure in competition with the global ICT giants.
       The largest national telcos are perhaps the best candidates to partner with governments, as they at least have some of the required resources and are similarly focused on a largely national, as opposed to global, market.
       Governments need to think ahead on this one rather than risk the disappearance of their local ICT industry.

Paving the way for a creative economy

2009-08-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

       Despite the software market expecting zero growth this year compared to last year's growth of 11 percent, innovative advanced technologies and a white ocean strategy will open new opportunities for software developers and pave the way for Thailand to enter the creative economy, according to Patama Chantaruck, managing director, Microsoft (Thailand).
       Moreover, the new Windows 7 operating systemwhich will be launched in October will open business opportunities for a new variety of applications that support multi-touch technology.
       For example, restaurants and hotels may develop food ordering by allowing guests to touch or press the menu on the display on more than one point at the same time.
       In addition, Microsoft also has a new Microsoft Partner Network which helps to connect and match businesses for different partners in each country in the region.
       This will help Thai software developers, especially small sized companies,to leverage their expertise and expand outside the country with lower costs or bring in external partners to fulfill or support the customer base.
       Jirawit Maeprasart, Intel Microelectronics (Thailand), Strategist-Emerging Market Enabling Software Solution group, said powerful hardware from multi-core processors and graphics processing units (GPU) and virtualisation technology are driving high performance computing (HPC) and cloud computing.
       Most existing software used sequential programs which are more appropriate for single core CPUs but if developers would like to leverage multicore technology they should use parallel programming or multi-threaded programming.
       There is evidence to show that after Intel has introduced selective software companies can learn new technological trends.
       For example, financial specialists Wealth Management System changed some part of its code to support parallel programming. After this, the company increased its software performance from supporting 10 concurrent users to 2,000 concurrent users.
       The new programming also helped to utilise CPU power from the average 40 percent up to 95 percent.
       Jirawit added that cloud computing is opening new opportunities for independent software vendors to create business models such as building applications and offering software as a service model (SaaS).
       However, Thai software developers need to strengthen their English communication skills and shift their focus from the domestic market because technology like web 2.0 and cloud computing can help them to expand their international market at a lower cost.
       Sunicha Eckachai, IBM Thailand,business development manager, IBM Academic Initiative, added that software quality management is critical for developers to audit the quality of software and reduce the cost of development.
       Prinya Hom-Anek, president of ACIS Professional Centre, said many emerging security standards will affect IT companies such as information security ISMS, IT Service Management System (ITSMS) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) for IT service business and CMMI for software processing.
       There is a coming trend called "Information Security Governance" or ISG which is a subset of corporate governance focused on information security systems and their performance and risk management.
       ISG helps IT bridge the gap between IT and businesses and align or embed IT with business strategy.
       Software the key to a creative economy
       Software Park Thailand director Suwipa Wanasathop sees that there are a lot of opportunities in the world market and that Thailand can make software one of the creative industries to support the government's policy to make Thailand a creative economy.
       The country can enable software to boost other sectors, especially healthcare, tourism and food which are core business concerns for Thailand.
       The country has hospital management systems for healthcare, food traceability software for the food industry and hotel management systems for hospitality industry.
       White ocean with niche expertise
       Suwipa suggests that under this dynamic environment the important thing for software houses to keep in mind is the quality of software and services which are comprised of project management, good architecture, security and testing to help improve the quality.
       Moreover, innovation of products and services is the key to differentiating from competitors and companies have to use their expertise to find niche markets.
       Software Park Thailand is currently linked with other software park operators in Asia and Oceania to form the Asia Oceania Software Park Alliance to help other member countries to pave the way in the target market.
       Moreover, the member may join hands to go pursue "third country markets". For instance, Thailand has food traceability software which supports halal food standards, while Brunei has a strong relationship with the Middle Eastern halal food market. So Thailand and Brunei can join hands in the Middle East.
       Software Park also incorporates selected local software companies that support in some specific sectors like food, healthcare and hospitality to bring them to work together and offer total solutions to the target customers in that sector.
       Ramade Sillapaprom, president of the Soft Square group which has 12 subsidiary companies employing a total of 400 people, said software businesses are mainly small companies with a small number of staff so the best way to survive in business would be to find a niche and use a white ocean strategy.
       In his company model, employees can start their own businesses or joint ventures and work together if they have a big project or can combine expertise to meet the requirements of customers.
       "You have to find your niche in design, architecture, even in programming. When you get a key project, you just find other companies who have a missing component to deliver the project together. This helps small companies not to handle a lot of head counts," Ramede explained.
       Business exchange: bridge social network
       Dr Chachanat Thebtaranonth, vice president of NSTDA and director of the Technology Management Centre,said advanced technologies like social networks help to connect business partners but there is still a need to meet and exchange ideas in the physical world to accelerate business opportunities and collaboration.
       However, the economic recession has caused the number of ICT events to be postponed or cut due to budgetary concerns and this in turn has reduced the social dimension of the IT industry.
       So Software Park Thailand under the TMC has teamed up with IT partners to organise the "Software Park Annual Conference 2009". Among the event's highlights are panel discussions on white ocean strategy for a creative society and other topics and exhibition booths by leading IT vendors as well as a showcase of new technology.
       The event will take place at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre on August 26 under the theme business opportunities with IT in the creative economy. The event will help to bring physical social network with all stakeholders for IT people.

Buying furniture before the house is built

2009-08-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

       Dr Sumet Tantivejkul told us about a contest to make a personal quick dish served with brown rice, held recently by the Thai Rice Foundation under Royal Patronage, of which he is the chairman, and inviting candidates from neighbouring countries.
       Malaysia took first place as they could effectively explain the nutritional value of each single ingredient. Thailand finished third.
       "Many Thais are basically subject to superficial concerns - the visual decoration - but cannot further explain what they are doing," said the Thai Rice Foundation chairman.
       Likewise, he said, more than half of Thailand's IT utilisation is inferior, and that the society as a whole suffers from a lack of foundation.
       "I compare this to the house that has not yet been built, but the furniture has already been moved in.
       "We cannot access to the heart of substance because of no foundations have been laid, and its appalling effects are still around today.
       Thailand's IT industry was born at roughly the same time as Singapore's. While Thailand concentrated on hardware, Singapore's priority has been to forbid the government agencies to buy computers. Instead they ask American universities to settle their human resource development programs and IT curricula for bachelor and master's degrees.
       Singapore meanwhile has a committee to consider structure and specification of hardware.
       This combines with a well-timed system that sees graduates ready to start work at the right time,.
       However, Thailand today still has a big stockpile of computers scattering around the country, but lacks enough people with IT skills and qualifications to deal with them.
       Dr Sumet said: "What is strange about Thailand is that the best technicians have skills but no formal education. Their expertise comes from self-learning and practice, but when they come to a certain level they cannot further develop due to lacking a strong academic foundation."
       The solution, Dr Sumet suggested, is that the entire loop must be revamped.
       "But the problem is 'integration', and 'holistic approaches'; all these buzz words that have been bandied around.
       "But when professionals perform, they work independently".