Jon Russell

Insight into Thai telecom law & the 3G debacle

The whole purpose of this law is to enable private companies to become licensed telecommunication operators, without having to enter into a contract with a state enterprise (i.e. concession agreement).

However, as you can see from section 79 and 80 (posted below), every effort has been made (by CAT & TOT lobbyists) to ensure that TOT & CAT can continue to gain revenue from the private sector as before, for as long as the concession agreements remain valid. If liberalization was the real goal, all concession agreements should naturally have been declared null and void, and the private companies would have been permitted to apply for a license from the regulator instead.

It's a disaster, Thailand's long awaited 3G process is further delayed.

A guest contribution to my blog outlines how Thai law can allow such a ridiculously process of challenges to derail what is now a standard worldwide technology

A great video from an official Twitter staffer packed full of stats

Click to enlarge. Source: Deagol's AAPL model

The log chart above, produced by Daniel ("Deagol") Tello, shows the revenue stream from the iPad overtaking the Mac's -- much as the iPhone did three years earlier and the iPod did a few years before that.

Just think of the knock effects across the board...

Leading the rise of social group buying and deal-of-the-day sites worldwide is U.S.-based Groupon, which practically became a household name overnight. Now, here in Thailand, plenty of clones are starting to emerge to cater to the nation’s bargain hunters too.

With the market set to take off in a major way, we’ve put together a guide to the group-buying phenomenon and the sites that are leading the pack.

Should I be worried? I'm two weeks into an in-house social media marketing role...lol

To build upon its great start and be a long-term success Spotify needs to do three things:

1. Break through the 15-20 million user bar like Pandora did
2. Convert roughly 5 percent of its user base to premium offerings
3. Build a sustainable ad business that helps shoulder the cost of its free users

Juniper's Mark Mulligan wrote the above of online music Service Spotify last year, August 2009 to be precise.

So where is the service now?

[According to data from March 2010: so true figures may be higher] It has amassed a user base of 7 million with 3.5% paying for premium service.

Not bad progress at all but I too expected better for a proposition which is essentially free music using an extensive catelogue and easy user experience.

Seems to me, from a quick straw poll of friends/family in UK, that many of the target audience simply don't know about.

As Mulligan alluded in the piece the above extract is taken from, it won't kill iTunes but it offers a complimentary service. Enforcing this message could make a big difference.

This a huge topic but I hope Spotify 'makes it' as I love the service and the concept.

A great visual overview of social media channels

There is no doubt that the political protests triggered substantial growth and awareness of Facebook in Thailand, particularly reflected during March, April and May, however new growth drivers have emerged as the political situation has returned to a cooler (but arguably still uneasy, with emergency laws still active) landscape.

Yet despite the loss of this trigger, Facebook numbers have continued to grow (as the below chart from Facebaker's indicates) which suggested other factors are responsible for the spread of Facebook adoption.

Note: the Facebook Thailand data from Facebakers is not always updated on a regular basis, hence what looks like periods of stagnation but are in fact lulls in measurement.

New growth factors

There are a number of drivers which are keeping Facebook numbers growing in Thailand, my three key picks are below:

Word of mouth: Undoubtedly the strongest factor and yet the most difficult influence to measure. With increasing numbers adopting Facebook in Thailand the spread, adoption and usage creates its own promotion dynamic. For example, non Facebook users may find friends posting photos on the service tempt them to sign up, or interest in the latest social game prompts them to give it a shot. The more people that use Facebook, the more 'buzz' is created and thus the stronger the word of mouth influence.

Gaming: We already know online gaming, social gaming and mobile gaming are huge across Asia. Facebook taps into all three making its entertainment and gaming offerings a big driver of new and returning traffic.

Mobile: With increasingly sophisticated technology becoming available in more affordable mobile phones, more users are enabled to access the internet through their mobile device. In a market where fixed-line internet is immature, unreliable and available to less than 25 percent of the population, mobile is the big internet enfranchiser and the future of wider option of internet. The upcoming 3G license auctions mark a critical moment in the nation's telecommunications industry and the future of mass market internet access.

From my post earlier today though a version is also available at CNN Go here.