1. GLOBAL INDICATORS WORKSHOP ON COMMUNITY ACCESS TO ICT
16-19 November 2004
Mexico City, MEXICO
“ICT DEVELOPMENT AND THE USE OF INTERNET IN LAO PDR”
Presented by Singthong Khamone
Deputy Director Telecommunication Division
Department of Posts and Telecommunications
Ministry of Communications, Transports,
Posts and Construction
Vientiane, Lao PDR

2. Generality
Lao PDR is situated in the centre of South East Asia peninsula.
Total area 236,800 square kilometers.
The country extends approximately 1,000 km at its longest length in the North West to South East direction.
Population is approximately 5.5 million.
Vientiane Capital has population about 500,000

3. ICT Industry in Lao PDR
The ICT Industry in Lao PDR was established in 1980’s.
ICT Industry has not much developed, due to the small computer user market.
Early stages, ICT was limited to small computer stores.
The current ICT Industry in Lao PDR divided in 4 sector categories: Computer retailers (50); ISP(6); Education(6); Wireless Network Solutions (1).

4. General Data of Public ICT Application
Geographic Area 236,800 sq km
Population million
Total Fixed Telephone 86,236 lines
Total Mobile Telephone 250,279 subscribers
Tele-density per 100 people
Internet dial up users 2,443 lines
ADSL users
IP Star users

5. Statistic of Telecommunication Service Source: Ministry of Communications, Transports, Posts and Construction September 2004
Name of Operator
Lao Telecom Company (LTC)
Enterprise of Telecom Lao (ETL)
Lao Asia Telecom (LAT)
Millicom Lao Limited
(MLL)
Ownership
Joint Venture Government 51%
Private 49%
Government 100%
Joint Venture
Government 22%
Private 78%
Number of Fixed Telephone
(lines)
75,252
9,837
1,147 NA
Number of Mobile Telephone
(subscribers)
148,147
60,273
10,473
31,386

6. Statistic of Internet Application Source: Science, Technology and Environment Agency September 2004
Name of ISP
laotel
(LTC)
stea
(STEA)
laonet
planet
lanexang
etllao
(ETL)
Ownership
Joint Venture
Government of Lao 51%
Private 49%
Government of Lao 100%
Joint Venture Government of Lao 30%
Private 70%
Private 100%
Number of users
2,443 (dial up)
38 (IP Star)
500
300
600
100
43 (dial up)
58 (ADSL)
Speed of connection
1.5 Mbps
756 Kbps
512 Kbps
2 Mbps
128 Kbps
256 Kbps
Internet Access
(gate way)
Satellite Intelsat
Thaicom
Satellite Thaicom
Satellite Mabuhay
Optic Fiber CSC
Satellite Asiasat

7. ICT Development in Lao PDR Present Situation
ICT situation in Lao PDR is only primary stage.
Requirement for the Management and Operation Government Machinery.
Telecommunication and Postal Network having the capacity to transmit data.
Few Institutions undertake application research and development of ICT.
Computer Hardware and Software are imported.

8. Internet Growth
High interest of using Internet among the educated people.
Laotian secondary and post secondary youth are also aware of the Internet.
The number of Internet Cafes is growing. They first sprung up to serve tourists but are increasingly attracting curious Laotians.
The Lao Government increasingly recognizes that Internet is important for social economic development.
The ascension of Lao PDR to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997 has also been a boost to the Internet. ASEAN has a number of projects that call for countries establishing Internet connectivity.

9. Barriers of Internet access and use
Low income of the population
The price of equipment is high
Telecommunication infrastructure is lacking in rural and remote areas
Website in lao content is very few available
Low levels of IT literacy and English language
Awareness of the Internet is not high among most of the population

10. Problems to be solved
Lack of coordination in ICT from all side (Government, donors and private sectors)
Lack of standards (Lao character set)
Software and Hardware standardization
Lack of knowledge capacity
Lack of ICT Management Strategy
Telecommunication Infrastructure cannot support high speed information access

11. Future Plan
Policies for encouraging ICT Development (National ICT Policy and Strategy, ICT Master Plan, Cyber law and other legislation related to ICT).
Development ICT Infrastructure (Optical Fiber Network, Research and Development of Hardware and Software).
Implementation in administrative service work (Government Intranet System).
Set up National ICT Association and promote ICT investment from private sectors.
Human Capacity Building (Education and Training).

12. Cooperation Program
We are willing to participate in various ICT programs and activities of regional and international organizations.
Changing and developing manpower.
Enhance ICT cooperation in regional and international partnerships.
THANK YOU