Thailand
Thailand: BoI benefits drawing in cable carriers
A new regulation from the Board of Investment (BoI) and the rise of digital transformation will stimulate the use of submarine cables and could allow Thailand to become a regional cable option, says a local carrier.
“Thailand has the potential to be an alternative international connection point in Asean, in particular as a gateway to Indochina if it can increase the number of submarine cables and lower internet costs,” said Teerarat Pantarasutra, president of Symphony Communication Pcl, a local privately owned telecom carrier.
Thailand has 6-7 cable submarine systems mostly owned by state enterprises, and the cost of internet is triple that of Singapore.
Singapore and Malaysia have up to 20 cable submarine systems, making them more attractive than Thailand as they can offer better prices from economies of scale when drawing global content providers such as Facebook and Google to locate data centres there.
“If we can increase our submarine cables to at least 12 systems with higher capacity, it will lower costs. But the government needs to pass transparent regulations related to cloud and data centres to have a consistent policy and increase foreign investor confidence,” said Mr Teerarat.
In June, the BoI listed submarine cables as one of the digital infrastructure businesses eligible to receive a corporate tax exemption, with a limit at 988 million baht for eight years.
“Symphony was the first company awarded this privilege,” he said.
Recently Symphony launched 1,300-kilometre Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand (MCT) Submarine Cable System in Thailand, with total investment of 2 billion baht through joint investment, with partners in the two other countries developing infrastructure.
Symphony also invested in a cable landing station in Rayong.
“We are the first privately owned submarine cable provider in the country,” said Mr Teerarat.
The MCT Submarine Cable System can transmit data at a total capacity of up to 30 terabits per second and supports 100-gigabit Ethernet technology, with a secure and stable system aimed at increasing telecommunication efficiency and supporting the government’s digital economy policy as well as the Eastern Economic Corridor with Symphony’s Rayong cable landing station.
Symphony has a new investor, Malaysian-based TIME dotCom International Sdn Bhd, which will take a 49% share in the company.
This year, the company expects its revenue to grow by less than 10% from last year because of the economic slowdown.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/1335459/boi-benefits-drawing-in-cable-carriers