e2001 Your Digital Future - Bangkok Post Special Supplement

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

WAP-enabled phones may be here by year's end

Wireless protocol brings Web to phone

Sasiwimon Boonruang

After being developed by mobile phone equipment providers such as Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) services are now scheduled to be officially available here by the end of the year from the two major mobile phone operators, Advanced Info Services (AIS) and Total Access Communications (TAC).

WAP is the de facto world standard for the presentation and delivery of wireless information on mobile phones and other wireless terminals. According to the WAP Forum, handset manufacturers representing 90 percent of the world market across all technologies have committed to shipping WAP-enabled devices.

Carriers representing more than 100 million subscribers worldwide, leading infrastructure providers, software developers and other organisations that provide solutions to the wireless industry have joined this forum.

The WAP specification uses standard web proxy technology to connect the wireless domain with the Internet. By using the computing resource in the WAP gateway, the WAP architecture permits the handsets to be simple and inexpensive.

A WAP gateway includes the functionality, with a protocol gateway and content encoders and decoders. This translates requests from the WAP protocol stack to the WWW protocol stack (HTTP and TCP/IP). The content encoders and decoders translate Web content into compact encoded formats to reduce the size and number of packets travelling over the wireless data network.

THE MOBILE MARKET

Sales of smart phones and wireless PDA's will skyrocket as users embrace the concept of any time, anywhere, Internet access. The growth and size of the wireless subscriber market has been phenomenal.

According to Global Mobile magazine, there are more than 200 million wireless subscribers in the world today, while Nokia says there will be more than one billion wireless subscribers by the year 2005. The wireless market is enormous.

In Thailand, the number of cellular subscribers this year is estimated to be 2.6 million and is expected to reach six million by the year 2002, while there are 7.5 million installed telephone lines provided by TOT, TA and TT&T _ with about 3.4 million of these now in use.

Internet users in Thailand are now estimated to be around one million and according to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), this number will increase to 2.2 million users by the year 2005. Internet penetration in Thailand currently is 1.5 percent of its population of some 61 million.

Advanced Info Service, a subsidiary of Shin Corporation, announced a four billion baht investment in wireless data communication services, including in WAP and GPRS. This figure includes 20 million baht for the Sim Tool Kit, which is basic technology that enables mobile phones to access data at a greater volume.

According to AIS chairman Somprasong Boonyachai, AIS has so far already invested some 450 million baht for a WAP gateway which is expected to be launched in December. Another 300 million baht has also been invested during the fourth quarter on the GPRS network to enable the network to transmit data at higher high speeds, increasing from the current 9.6 Kbps to 115 Kbps.

Around 110,000 WAP-enabled phone users out of its total subscriber base of 1.4 million were estimated to be able to use the service when it starts. The WAP content will be provided by Shinee.com, a subsidiary of Shin Corporation.

In addition, AIS has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Singapore-based online directory service operator eGuide.com to provide eGuide's content on AIS's WAP-based handsets. eGuide.com currently operates two directory home pages <www.eguide.com.my> based in Malaysia and <www.eguide.com.sg> based in Singapore.

Thailand is eGuide's third target country and the company plans to invest around 50 million baht in Thailand by the end of this year.

TAC OF UCOM GROUP

TAC plans to develop WAP and GPRS technologies on its network and will provide WAP services through a tie-up with Djuice.com, a mobile portal site operated by Norwegian partner Telenor Mobile Communications.

The local WAP portal, <Djuice.co.th> is planning to start operations in December and Thailand will be the second country after Norway in which Djuice.com will create a presence, before expanding to cover 15 countries within three years.

The portal is in close partnership with the world's leading content and computer players, including IBM, Lotus, Yahoo!, Andersen Consulting and Time Warner.

According to TAC chief executive Boonchai Bencharongkul, TAC would invest US$2 million (88 million baht) to develop Djuice.co.th and the WAP gateway that will allow TAC subscribers to access the site. The company also plans to develop General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology by next year.

POINTASIA DOT COM

PointAsia will operate a WAP-based service by the end of this year to take advantage of expected growth in the mobile phone market, having invested in a WAP gateway to ensure transaction security and a streamlined mobile network.

PointAsia provides real-time information such as air ticket reservations, flight information, restaurant information, stock market reports, currency rates, soccer and American basketball results, weather reports, lottery results and email through its <wopwap.com>.

According to PointAsia president Vivatvong Vichit-Vadakan, PointAsia looked beyond the Mobile Phone WAP portal-gateway into what the company terms as other "mobile devices and applications".

The company has formed a small group called the Mobility Unit whose task is to look into all aspects of the "Mobility Environment" and not to be constrained by the devices used. These can be mobile phones, PDAs, two-way Pagers as well as other devices not yet commercially out on the market.

Mr Vivatvong noted that if the country was to have high Internet penetration similar to developed countries in the region, PCs alone would not do the job within the timeframe.

"Think about the number of new PCs being sold on a yearly basis and we get around 300,000 to 400,000 units a year. Not all of these are Internet-ready, so at this rate it will probably take us another 10 to 15 years before we have a 25 to 30 percent Internet penetration rate like Korea" he said.

This was where lower cost devices other than normal PCs will come in, and applications will look different and feel different than those designed for large-screen PCs since they will have to fit the more-confined form factor of these new gadgets.

PointAsia's WAP portal <www.wopwap.com> is at this point set up for the purpose of educating the public on the new technology and what the company sees lying ahead.

Users could do some simulations and find out what to expect if they didn't happen to carry a WAP phone yet. The company intended to extend the information base further to cover new wireless gadgets that would become available in the near future, so it was a general information site on wireless mobility technology, he said.

INTERNET THAILAND (INET)

In conjunction with Nokia (Thailand), Internet Thailand will promote the integrated development of WAP in Thailand to bring business opportunities to developers and benefits to end-users, along with the development of mobile commerce.

The cooperation marks a couple of "firsts", being the first WAP portal service with payment gateway and the first free WAP hosting to be provided in Thailand. The programme is divided into three areas, including a WAP portal web site _ <wap.thai.com>, free WAP hosting, and WAP portal services.

Inet president Trin Tantsetthi said that the programme offered a complete mobile commerce platform for WAP developers and end users. It introduced significant progress in WAP development by providing free WAP hosting and tools to developers.

Under this cooperation, Nokia brings in expertise in WAP technology and its strength in technical support to help develop WAP content and applications.

"We put in our network resources and our expertise from running and maintaining the country's largest web hosting facility, with more than 50,000 content providers, plus a payment and logistics gateway for mobile commerce applications" he said.

The cooperation also provides for the formation of a healthy developer's community which will result in greater diffusion of WAP technology and services development for improved benefits to end users. Nokia is supporting Inet in developing the WAP portal services for mobile phone users.

The portal will enable users to do electronic transactions via mobile phones conveniently and with great security. The portal offers most-frequently-sought information including music charts, box office figures, movie show times, breaking news, stock indices and a stock search facility.

It also offers mobile commerce service _ INET-Refill.

The WAP portal web site includes three major sections.

The Public Zone offers general information about WAP, the Developer Zone provides a toolkit and support for developers to create new WAP applications and offers a forum for them to meet and share experiences.

The final section, the Service Zone, demonstrates and updates the WAP users on WAP portal services.

The free WAP hosting for WAP contents and applications offers small developers and content owners a cost-efficient way to build their businesses and to provide services to their customers.

WAP HANDSETS IN THAILAND

Ericsson R320: "A triumph of design and ingenuity," the R320 is Ericsson's first phone featuring a WAP browser.

Nokia 7110: The first Nokia WAP phone enables users to type in messages with greater speed and convenience, supporting data transmission speeds of 9.6 Kbps and 14.4 Kbps.

Motorola Accompli A6188: A two-in-one which combines features of mobile phones and PDA functions, supporting complete mobile-commerce.

WAP PORTALS

Local WAP portals and gateways include: <wap.siam2you.com>; <wopwap.com>, <mobile.mweb.co.th>, <wap.thai.com>, <wap.samarts.com>.

Siam2you.com MWeb (Thailand), who recently acquired a share in KSC Internet, launched WAP portal <mobile.mweb.co.th>, allowing users to browse using their phones.

eThailand.com provides content for Motorola's new WAP service in Thailand and a business information service.

Samart Corp launched a WAP portal at <www.samarts.com/wapservices> offering a variety of information include real time flight information.