Digital Inclusion, Technology

Remote Thai province to deploy WiMAX

By Jianggan Li | 7 August 2008

WiMAX wireless broadband network will be deployed in Mae Hong Son, a mountainous province in Thailand’s northwest, bordering Myanmar.

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The implementation is part of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre’s (Nectec) IT Valley project aimed at promoting the province as a technology-development centre.

Nectec recently obtained approval from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to test WiMAX technology in Mae Hong Son for three years and was allocated the 2.5GHz frequency for the pilot project.

Currently, a team at Nectec is surveying potential areas for setting up WiMAX base stations and hopes to begin implementation by early next year. Three to four base stations will be set up initially, in Muang, Mae Sarieng and Pai districts.

In the first phase, connectivity will be provided to 20 WiMAX clients, such as schools and government offices, located within a 10 kilometre radius of the first station to be set up in each district.

Nectec deputy director and IT Valley Project director Kwan Sitathani says the agency hoped to improve the standard of living of the people in the province by eliminating the digital divide between the isolated region and the rest of the world.

“We believe the new WiMAX technology will have a social impact on the people in Mae Hong Son,” Sitathani says. “It will eventually also help create new job opportunities for the locals, enabling them to earn while staying in the province.”

Meanwhile, in the government sector, the wireless broadband service will help officials improve their internal work processes.

With this project, Nectec hopes to evaluate the efficiency of deploying WiMAX in the valley terrain and study both the technological and social impact on the region’s people.

The centre will initially use WiMAX equipment sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency, with plans to develop its own equipments at a later stage.