It believes that the Digital Economy master plan opens up many new sources of revenue for Thai carriers, telco service providers, and other businesses in digital content provision, digital entertainment and gaming, xCommerce, and consumer electronics.
And if done right, the Digital Economy can contribute to as much as 30% of GNP by 2020, says IDC.
IDC envisions that Thailand's telecommunications industry will be transformed significantly in 2015, as a result of a never-before seen race by telcos to win market share.
Hyper-competition is welcomed, as it will ultimately result in a rise in the country's ranks in ICT worldwide. This market assessment was revealed in conjunction with the release of IDC Thailand's Top Ten Predictions for the Thai ICT industry in 2015.
According to Neeranuch Kanokvilairat, Senior Market Analyst for Telecommunications at IDC Research Thailand, "The Thai telecommunications sector has been a good case study for competition, because it has yielded many great benefits, including increased investments by international telecom service providers."
The focus on Fiber-To-The-X (FTTX) by carriers and service providers has led to fierce price competition and lower price of services at higher bandwidth, observes Neeranuch.
"In addition, wider coverage of services for FTTX will help fixed broadband reach more Internet users, supporting record growth in users in the next three years."
IDC notes that even though FTTX is gaining larger interest and demand by users, xDSL users still represents more than 70% of total internet users.
It expects the impending auction of 4G licenses will further scale up the availability, speed, and cost-effectiveness of telecommunication services.
Adding to the favorable trends in the Thai telecommunications sector is the increasing usage of mobile internet by Thais, a key reason Thailand saw the highest increase in global rankings in the recent International Telecommunication Union ICT Development Index (IDI).
Neeranuch points out that Thailand saw a huge year-over-year jump of 297% for mobile broadband subscribers in September 2014.
"The Internet-ready population of Thailand is seeing the highest rates of usage for social media, mobile games, music and video files, emails, and online shopping compared to Thailand's neighbors.
IDC recognizes that the release of several mobile data bundles and unlimited social media packages by operators to meet demand and usage has contributed immensely, changing the ways our society communicates now. "
For more information about IDC Thailand's telecommunications research, please contact Phawadee Pongsupan at +662 645 2370 or [email protected]. To set up an interview with Neeranuch Kanokvilairat, please contact Sasithorn Sae-iao at +662 645 2370 or [email protected].