Techniques for Estimating Demand for Public Internet Service:

An Empirical Study of CATNET Demand and Usage

Rattanawan Rattakul

Senior Business Analyst, Thailand Post Company LimitedMinistry of Information and Communication Technology

THAILAND

Thailand’s initiatives in PIACs Thailand IT2010 lays out the country’s ICT roadmap towards

Knowledge-based Society with seven strategies Strategy 1: The development of ICT industry into a regional leader Strategy 2: The utilization of ICT to enhance the quality of life and society Strategy 3: The reform and enhancement of the capability on ICT research

and development Strategy 4: The reinforcement of social capacity for future competition Strategy 5: The development of entrepreneurs ี capacity for the expansion of

international markets Strategy 6: The utilization of ICT in Small and Medium Enterprises Strategy 7: The utilization of ICT in government administration and services

To increase knowledge-workers to 30% of labour force, the Royal Thai Government aims to introduce telecenters in every villlage and increase the value of the ICT industry to 40% of the country’s GDP. The initiative has begun since 1999 and been ongoing.

Thailand’s 2004 ICT Uptake Source: NECTEC, Ministry of Science and

Technology, and National Statistical Office, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (See handouts)

Telecommunications Computer Units Internet

Thailand Internet Users Population: 65.21 Million (2004, NSO) Internet users: 7.03 Million (NSO survey, 2003) PC Owners: 726, 767 (2003, TU/IDC) Broadband subscribers: BKK 130,000

Province 10,000

CATNET users: 78,283

Public Internet in Thailand as of 2004 CAT Telecom: CATNET Public Kiosks in 1,107

offices nationwide TOT Corp: TOT Tambon.net to all TAOs 13,254

points and SchoolNet to 21,013 schools Private Internet Café: 2,253 cyber cafes as of March

2004 TOTAL 37,907 PIACs per 65.21 Million Thais

Compatibility of ITU Survey to the Thai statistics on digital divide 1. Major agencies handling census and survey in

ICT-related issues are NECTEC under MoST, and NSO under MICT

2. Classification of PIAC by localities does not suit the Thai context, as our data collection stored most info in the Bangkok and its vicinity, and its decentralized provinces in North, N/E, Central, South

3. To fill in the ITU survey, the agencies need to launch a specific survey for this questionnaire

CAT’s Study on CATNET Demand and Usage

Research Objective Examine CATNET user demographics and

Internet usage Acquire customer insights Identify attributes of their service need Promote awareness of inhibitors in narrowing

the digital gap

Research Methodology Survey Method: Stratified Random Sampling across all 761

CATNET outlets (as of December 2002) Outlets categorized into four groups 2,550 questionnaires mailed 1,223 questionnaires returned (48% of response rate) 2% rejected as respondents are unqualified (See questions on

their application used on the Internet) = 1,174 questionnaires Coding and Analysis conducted using SPSS Reliability test on answers resulted in 89.55% alpha value

Four groups of CATNET outletsCATNET cards

sold No. of outletsSurvey sent

(copies)

Over 100 20 1,000

41-100 30 600

21-40 70 700

11-20 50 250

Total Sent 170 2,550

Findings

BKK North Central East West Northeast South

14% 13% 16% 3% 3% 30% 21%

Telecom Center Post Office

49.8% 50.2%

Questionnaires received by sampling units

Demographics

Findings

Full-time56%

Part-time10%

Unemployed

34%

Employment Status

lower than 647%

6 to 1226%

12 to 1812%

higher than 18

15%

Income (‘000 Baht)

<2027%

21-3034%

31-4025%

>4014%

Age

Urban area24%

Within Municipalit

y45%

Rural area31%

Domicile

Findings

Public Sector Employees 32.6%

Private Sector Employees 16.3%

Self-employed 17.5%

Retirees 1.1%

Student 32.5%

Computer Ownership

Yes 44.0%

No 56.0%

Occupation Education

Primary School 2.6%

Secondary/junior High School

8.2%

High School 20.1%

Vocational Student 23.7%

Bachelor Degree 40.4%

Graduate Degree 5.0%

Internet Usage of CATNET users

Internet access

0-5 hour / week 53. 5%

5-10 hour / week 28.3%

10-15 hour / week 10.2%

15-20 hour / week 8.1%

First usage of the Internet 

In 2002 17.9%

In 2001 31.5%

In 2000 17.5%

In 1999 12.9%

Prior to 1999 20.3%

Internet usage

Once a day23%

2-3 times per week

41%

2-4 times per month

22%

Once a month or

less14%

Duration

< 30 Min. 15.1%

30-60 Min. 53.4%

61-90 Min. 16.7%

91-120 Min. 8.6%

> 2 Hrs. 5.9%

Always logged on 0.3%

Frequency

CATNET usageDurationFrequency

Once a day11%

2-3 times per week

33%2-4 times per month

26%

Once a month or

less30%

< 30 Min. 27.4%

30-60 Min. 50.7%

61-90 Min. 13.4%

91-120 Min. 5.5%

> 2 Hrs. 3.0%

Do you use Internet at the following places?

No. of CATNET users who access Internet

At home 371

At work 334

At school 308

At public booth 985

Distribution of Point of Access

Home

Work

School

Public Booth

18%

15%

12%

55%

Purpose of Usage

Communications37%

Entertainment23%

Research32%

Commerce8%

Application used on the Internet

Never Sometimes Most often

E-mail 16.8% 38.6% 44.6%

File Download 29.4% 51.2% 19.4%

File Upload 47.7% 43.3% 9.0%

Chat 36.1% 43.7% 20.2%

Playing Game 33.2% 47.3% 19.5%

Web browsing 7.5% 35.9% 56.6%

What did they browse on the web?

Ever Used Never

Product Info Search 82% 18%

Corporate Info search 87% 13%

Search Product before purchase 70% 30%

Browse new web site 88% 12%

Order product via Internet 41% 59%

Why do they use Public Internet? Two major reasons emerge:

Public Internet is cheap (584 respondents) No Internet access at home (525 respondents)

Perception on Internet Benefits Internet helped reduce communications and

search costs Internet enhance their productivity, i.e.job

vacancies, suppliers CATNET helped lengthen their Internet use

(67%) CATNET helped increase their usage (68%)

Perception on Internet Benefits A bivariate correlation analysis with 90%

degree of freedom implied that frequency of CATNET usage and duration of CATNET usage explained positive relationship that CATNET helped increase Internet usage, and lengthen Internet session.

CATNET Pricing

One hour of CATNET services 10.84 2.77 852

Suggested Price Point (THB/Hour) 8.07 - 13.6

CATNET Price per hour before survey THB 30

CATNET Price per hour after survey THB 10.2

Pricing Mean SD N

Conclusion CATNET survey helped identify actual CATNET

users CATNET survey helped in decision-making on sites

for service expansion, based on customer profiling CATNET survey reveals price points affordability

and elasticity of user demand After the survey, service expansion from 761 outlets

to 1,100 outlets Price decrease to 0.12 Baht per minute from 0.50

Baht per minute

Thank Yourattanawan@gmail.com, rattanawan@mict.go.th

CATNET Pricing

Pricing MeanSD N

One hour of CATNET services 10.84

2.77

852

   

Suggested Price Point(THB/Hour) 8.07 -

13.6

   

CATNET Price per hou r before survey THB 30

 

CATNET Price per hou r after survey  THB

10.2