United Information Highway Co (UIH), a telecom network provider, is changing tactics to become a digital infrastructure and solutions provider and cash in on transformation opportunities in Asean.
"We invested 1 billion baht to transform our business to digital infrastructure and provide solutions to serve our rapidly changing corporate customers," said Sunti Medhavikul, newly appointed managing director of UIH.
Corporate users demand a cloud-based data centre, embracing big data and other digital solutions to be more competitive and survive digital disruption.
Sunti: Catching up with big data
To achieve its goal, UIH spent 1 billion baht to upgrade its existing backbone network to 1 terabit per second (tbps) capacity that can be scaled up to 4tbps.
The company also expanded its data centres by 200%, adding some 300 server racks as well as connecting its network with 20 leading data centres and cloud service providers in Thailand.
The data centre connection, called "Data centre Ring", covers the nation and enables its corporate customers to have a back-up network on different service providers.
The investment included its third main fibre-optic line last year, increasing network reliability, which covers 2,500 kilometres along railways.
By upgrading to a digital network, Mr Sunti said it will enable UIH to catch up with the growth of digital data from big data analytics and cloud services in Thailand and the Asean region.
UIH has a territorial connection in Asean. The company has linked its network to Myanmar through a joint venture, Myanmar Information Highway Co, and other connection partners in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Citing Telegeography, Mr Sunti said within five years, international traffic to Thailand will increase from 4tbps in 2017 to 20tbps in 2022.
UIH has teamed up with global partners, becoming an authorised service provider and cloud service provider of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google.
UIH offers "Cloud Direct" services to help corporate customers using cloud services of global companies. UIH corporate customers include Siam Commercial Bank and Siam Cement Group.
The company established a digital solutions group to offer Software as a Service such as e-document management and network monitoring management, big data, and smart city-related areas.
Skilled digital workers and services is another key strategy for UIH, said Mr Sunti. The company has increased the number of staff with certifications in Internet of Things, cybersecurity and cloud, he said.
UIH also plans to launch a new after-sales service channel through its own development of chatbot technology, as well as a web portal for self-service.
"UIH has gradually changed the past three years. Our people are ready to serve customers amid the digital trend," said Mr Sunti.
Those ambitious strategies are expected to enable UIH to grow by 20% annually.
He said the company will maintain its focus on its existing 3,000 corporate customers, targeting new customers in the logistics sector because of the rise in e-commerce and healthcare caused by the popularity of digital imaging and connected networks.
UIH expects its revenue structure to see managed services and digital solutions account half of total revenue by 2022.