ONI Country Profi le
373
with most of the protestors coming from outside the city. During April and May 2010,
the demonstrations erupted into violence when military crackdowns were launched
in order to disperse the antigovernment protestors.
4 Up to 90 people were killed and
almost 2,000 were injured in the political mayhem that gripped the country between
March 12 and May 19, 2010.
5 During the political unrest, the government issued a
State of Emergency Decree on April 8, 2010, to block 36 Web sites that primarily had
content sympathetic to the red shirts.
6 In addition to this state-sanctioned censorship,
the Internet community in Thailand also appears to censor itself.
Internet in Thailand
The number of Internet users in Thailand has increased exponentially from 2.3 million
in 2000 to 18.3 million in 2009,
7 resulting in an estimated penetration rate of 25.8
percent in 2009.
8 In 2010 international bandwidth for the entire country was 156,680
Mbps, while domestic bandwidth was 721,217 Mbps.
9 Nearly half of all Internet users
are between 20 and 29 years old. Nearly half, 46.8 percent, of users access the Internet
in educational institutions, 33.4 percent at home, and 29 percent at work.
10 Fifty-fi ve
percent of Internet users are concentrated in Bangkok and the greater Bangkok area.
11
Of these users, 43.5 percent access the Internet through broadband.
12
According to the data from the National Electronics and Computer Technology
Center (NECTEC), Thailand has six international Internet gateways (IIGs), which also
serve as national Internet exchanges.
13 There are about 20 Internet service providers
(ISPs) that are active and carrying Internet traffi c. In 2010, TOTNET, TRUE, and 3BB
dominated the market, holding market shares of 40.24 percent, 29.79 percent, and
25.60, respectively.
14 Half the operating ISPs are semiconcessionaires with 35 percent
of their shares held by default by CAT Telecom,
15 a corporatized state enterprise and a
long-standing international carrier monopoly.
16 The remaining ISPs are new operators
that emerged as a result of the telecommunications reform following the establishment in 2004 of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the country ’ s
fi rst independent regulator of telecommunications. The commission has been issuing
licenses for telecommunications services and Internet services since 2005. So far, a
total of 130 licenses have been issued for telecommunications services, and 132 for
Internet.
17 These fi gures refl ect a two-tiered structure of Internet regulation. On one
side, there are the prereform semiconcessionaires that are highly liable to CAT
Telecom, which answers directly to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT). On the other side, there are the postreform ISPs that
operate under licenses issued from the NTC. This structure leads to somewhat of a
double standard in Internet regulation and fi ltering.
The government has established the Government Information Network (GIN) to
promote the level of information communication technology (ICT) employed in its
373
with most of the protestors coming from outside the city. During April and May 2010,
the demonstrations erupted into violence when military crackdowns were launched
in order to disperse the antigovernment protestors.
4 Up to 90 people were killed and
almost 2,000 were injured in the political mayhem that gripped the country between
March 12 and May 19, 2010.
5 During the political unrest, the government issued a
State of Emergency Decree on April 8, 2010, to block 36 Web sites that primarily had
content sympathetic to the red shirts.
6 In addition to this state-sanctioned censorship,
the Internet community in Thailand also appears to censor itself.
Internet in Thailand
The number of Internet users in Thailand has increased exponentially from 2.3 million
in 2000 to 18.3 million in 2009,
7 resulting in an estimated penetration rate of 25.8
percent in 2009.
8 In 2010 international bandwidth for the entire country was 156,680
Mbps, while domestic bandwidth was 721,217 Mbps.
9 Nearly half of all Internet users
are between 20 and 29 years old. Nearly half, 46.8 percent, of users access the Internet
in educational institutions, 33.4 percent at home, and 29 percent at work.
10 Fifty-fi ve
percent of Internet users are concentrated in Bangkok and the greater Bangkok area.
11
Of these users, 43.5 percent access the Internet through broadband.
12
According to the data from the National Electronics and Computer Technology
Center (NECTEC), Thailand has six international Internet gateways (IIGs), which also
serve as national Internet exchanges.
13 There are about 20 Internet service providers
(ISPs) that are active and carrying Internet traffi c. In 2010, TOTNET, TRUE, and 3BB
dominated the market, holding market shares of 40.24 percent, 29.79 percent, and
25.60, respectively.
14 Half the operating ISPs are semiconcessionaires with 35 percent
of their shares held by default by CAT Telecom,
15 a corporatized state enterprise and a
long-standing international carrier monopoly.
16 The remaining ISPs are new operators
that emerged as a result of the telecommunications reform following the establishment in 2004 of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the country ’ s
fi rst independent regulator of telecommunications. The commission has been issuing
licenses for telecommunications services and Internet services since 2005. So far, a
total of 130 licenses have been issued for telecommunications services, and 132 for
Internet.
17 These fi gures refl ect a two-tiered structure of Internet regulation. On one
side, there are the prereform semiconcessionaires that are highly liable to CAT
Telecom, which answers directly to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT). On the other side, there are the postreform ISPs that
operate under licenses issued from the NTC. This structure leads to somewhat of a
double standard in Internet regulation and fi ltering.
The government has established the Government Information Network (GIN) to
promote the level of information communication technology (ICT) employed in its