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DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIA

Thailand: Internet Media Landscape

1. General Information

There have been mixed sentiments about the general internet scene in Thailand. While availability of broadband and wireless is increasing throughout Bangkok, it is often the case the connection was slow and unstable. According to NECTEC (2008), the number of internet bandwidth is 30Mbps (international) and 226 Mbps (domestic). Nonetheless, we can expect optimism in the Thailand’s internet landscape. National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) estimated that online usage has been growing consistently over the years and is expected to reach at least 24% of the total population in 2008. Some signs showed are:

There has been increasing trend of hi-speed internet. 2 million have subscribed for internet broadband.
Computer usage has increased, up to 15.4 million units.
The internet user population had increased dramatically, approximately 6.5 million people.
Online advertising has seen a 38% growth from 2006 to 2007.
Content are getting richer and more interactive such as online news.
More WIFI hotspots are available at shopping malls, hotels, restaurants and café.
Thailand was one of the five Asian countries tanked among the world's top 10 fastest-growing consumer broadband markets in 2007 despite the low penetrate rate. [1

As Thais generally communicate in their mother language, most have difficulty using more software programming (which are often done in English). In an effort to grow Thailand’s IT industry, the government has been encouraging local IT workers to learnt the English language.

Thailand: Internet Media Landscape - DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIA

Thailand: Internet Media Landscape - DIGITAL MEDIA ACROSS ASIA

Mel, an Australian who now lives in a small city in Thailand far away from Bangkok, has nothing ‘western’ available but plantations. Seeing that she lives far away from the city, it was interesting to find out that her ADSL 1056kb/s internet connection is great most of the time with few occasions of it going offline.

The unfortunate news however, was that she had to wait 3 months to get because where she lived was far away from town and there was a waiting list for the villages. In fact, only 24 houses (out of the hundreds) in her village could have ADSL at this stage and if someone else wants it, they would have to wait for someone to cancel or for more to be available.

Previous to getting broadband, she had a satellite connection which was expensive and bad connectivity and dial-up was painfully slow. This further affirms that the IT infrastructure in Thailand is limited to the urban cities.

Mel started blogging so that her friends and family knew what she was doing in Thailand and so that she had an outlet for English as there were no foreigners anywhere near her. Now, her blog has become a good place to meet people who are able to contact her and she has also made several good friends.

2. Internet Penetration

IT Infrastructure - Social Media and PR across Asia

Statistics show that in Thailand, internet penetration and usage is growing and rapid technology adoption is expected over the next few years.

As broadband DSL or ADSL is becomes faster and more economical in Thailand, the number of users is projected to grow.

ADSL subscription prices vary from a flat fee of only 590 baht per month for individuals on 512K connections, to over 10,000 baht/month for companies on very high speed connections.

In some parts of Bangkok and Thailand there is inconsistency in internet speed. The speed of internet varies and generally slows down during peak periods of the day. (The slowdown is often due to "lost packets" as the switches have no choice but to skip packets when overloaded, this causes timeouts and retransmissions.)

Businesses which require a consistent fast connection will usually buy a leased circuit that is separate from the shared international line. Connections of just 1 mbps may be sufficient as it is a dedicated bandwidth. [2]

For users who are unaware, Gmail has been aiding Thailand in the Internet Broadband Penetration since 2005. In an article backdated 12th September 2005, it was stated that Google is offering 9 additional languages including Thai language character set. Thus allowing users to read and write email in Thai language as well as viewing the whole interface in Thai language. [3]

3. Internet Censorship

Generally, internet is regulated by Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MCIT).

Media censorship (also applicable to internet media) generally concentrates on
Pornography: Internetional porn sites such as Playboy.com are filtered
Gambling
Violence
Drugs: These include selling and advertising of products such as alcohol and tobacco
Religion
Terrorism
Lese majeste
Politics: International news sites like CNN and The Economist were occasionally blocked due to the political situation

Even social media sites such as YouTube was blocked in Thailand on several occasion as attempts to curb circulation of videos on sensitive issues. In March 2007, Thailand blocked YouTube for an CNN video on Thaksin Shinawatra’s speech. After a few days, it was unblocked. Ever since the 2006 Coup D’etat, regulation became very strict as seen in the surge of number of blocked sites after October 2006 (Freedom Against Censorship Thailand, 2007).

internet censor 1

4. Popular Online Applications

Discussion Forum The name of the website Pantip.com was derived from Pantip Plaza, the largest computer retail complex in Bangkok. However, more than what the name suggests, Pantip.com is the largest internet discussion site in Thailand with topics on automobiles, fine arts, entertainment, politics and arts.	Pantip.com
Blogs In Thailand, internet users prefer domestic blogging services over international providers such as Bloggers. For example, Exteen.comis a blogging service aimed at teens and reports one of the highest online traffic in Thailand. Another popular service called Bloggang. OKNation is a special blogging service which targets at “citizen journalist” bloggers.	Bloggang OKNation
Video-sharing site YouTube is by far the most popular video-sharing site.	Youtube
Social Networking Sites Hi5 has about two million members in Thailand aged from 15 to 40 and has become a very popular social network in the last two years, with a total worldwide membership of 80 million. In Thailand, the largest user age group is between 18 to 29 and account for 60% of the total.	Hi5
Search Engine According to the Thais, Siam Guru is the best search engine in Thailand. The search engine contains historical news data and retrieves the most accurate Thai related search results. The website was awarded the best website of Thailand in 2001 from HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.	Siam Guru

5. Internet on Mobile

Even though Thailand's mobile phone market is large, the country has experienced little transition into the use of web 2.0. Some experts blame this stagnancy on the past ban on the popular video streaming site YouTube. Since the ban was lifted we have seen social mobile networking sites booming in traffic and Thailand breaking into the web 2.0.

Social networking sites such as Hi5, Friendster and Facebook have a strong following in Thailand, and the release of mobile platforms have made it even easier for Thai people to connect with each.


Yozzo Co., ltd is a mobile service provider based in Bangkok, Thailand. The company operates different mobile services towards both end-users and corporate users. Among other services is a Mobile Social Community for Thais and international users. In 2008, Yozzo launched Opera Mini in Thailand, providing a comprehensive package of free services accessible via normal mobile phones and normal web [5] Messaging Creating and sharing mobile content News Weather reports Music search Blogging and more	American-based company Nareos launched Peerbox, a popular social networking service in Thailand. The site is working with some of Southeast Asia's leading wireless service providers to offer users P2P access and social networking. Peerbox is currently distributed through: 1. Mobile portal 2. Bluetooth Kiosk Through these methods, the companies are expecting to bring in over 20,000 new registered users a month. Peerbox currently allows a user to shoot videos or pictures on their mobile phones and then upload it to share with people they know. It also allows users to extend their network of friends, and watch videos that other people have uploaded.	This is another interesting twitter-like service which was created by 23 year old Thai programmer, Peerapong Pulpitpatnan (a.k.a. Pete) and in January 2008. This product is relatively new but Pete has empashized on constant improvements to the service. Currently, LetsProveWhere has a few features - it is able to upload user photos from mobile devices as well as enter locations. However, Pete has stated that he has his sights set on taking LetsProve Where even further by incorporating a real time travel log that allows users to update texts, videos, voice and pictures all into embeddable maps. He believes that this will be a new way for people to access and source for travel information. (Siwal, 2008)

Other pages in this section:

Popular Websites in Thailand

[1] Thailand Broadband Overview | Broadband Country Overview | Point Topic - http://point-topic.com/content/operatorSource/profiles2/thailand-broadband-overview.htm
[2] The Thailand Guru Website - http://www.thailandguru.com/internet-thailand-adsl-broadband-high-speed.html
[3] Gmail now in Thai aids market penetration - http://www.multilingual-search.com/gmail-in-thai-and-market-penetration/12/09/2005
[4] The largest global telecommunications research site on Web 2.0 - http://www.budde.com.au/buddereports/3301/Thailand_-_Broadband_Market.aspx
[5] A Mobile Social Community With A Difference- http://www.prlog.org/10125983-mobile-social-community-with-difference.html

liguen	Latest page update: made by liguen , Nov 19 2009, 4:14 AM EST (about this update About This Update more hyper links in first half of page - liguen 3 words added 2 words deleted view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: Thai IT infrastructure Thai software programming Thailand Thailand ADSL Thailand broadband service Thailand censorship Thailand Internet Thailand Internet Mobile Thailand IT infrastructure Thailand WiFi More Info: links to this page

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