Bangkok Post: The world windows to Thailand

NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET

As long as Thailand lags behind its neighbours in issuing 3G broadband network licences, Thais will lose out on opportunities in exploring the services such as e-books and remote health monitoring.

Thailand is the last remaining country in the Asean group without 3G services, with Vietnam and Laos finally receiving licences this year.

Kaneungjit Suriyathumrongkul, country manager of Qualcomm Thailand, said the new technology would help rural users who cannot connect to the Internet through landline telephones to fully access the web at high speed. The new wireless technology will open up more services to users and accelerate new access options to consumers, as well as open more vertical applications to mobile operators and software developers.

The service would also open new business model possibilities and could allow service providers who own their networks to offer vertical applications.

New 3G service operators are called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and include, for example, the Kindle, a wireless reading device from Amazon which downloads books over the 3G network.

MVNOs can be found in many sectors, especially healthcare services, which can use mobile devices and biosensor technology such as remote monitoring to identify heart rate, respiratory rate and motion in various environments like urgent care, chronic care, occupational and fitness.

In addition, there will more variety of services related to location-based devices enabled to enhance safety, security and efficiency, such as tracking of vehicles, elderly people, children, pets, and so on. Device embedded with sensors will broadcast their location via the wireless broadband network.

These wireless technologies will help to connect many more devices into the network which links not only people-to-people but also machine-to-machine.

So, in theory, the future of communication would potentially connect not only six billion people, but also their be 50 billion machines.

However, as is usual at the beginning of 3G service roll-out , the major user groups will likely be accessing the Internet through notebooks and mobile devices, especially in areas that have no fixed broadband service or mobile Internet availability.

Consumers will see various types of mobile Internet devices such as notebooks with embedded Gobi modules from Qualcomm, delivering multi-mode 3G mobile Internet access on either HSPA or CDMA2000 EV-DO networks. Currently, there are several global vendors shipping this technology, including Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Panasonic.

For smart phone and mini-notebook devices, the company offers the Snapdragon chipset platform, which helps to optimised power consumption for all-day battery life. This will be embedded in leading global brand manufacturers.

Additionally, its plans to introduce "PC alternative" Qualcomm technology and build prototypes to help developing countries to connect to the Internet without personal computers. For example, devices such as televisions or monitors could be equipped to access the web using 3G networks.

"We plan to market this technology in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, at a price of approximately $150 (5,110 baht) to help reduce the digital divide, especially in sub-district areas," Kaneungjit concluded.