1. Research Workshop
Daejeon University, 9 November 2012
ICT Development
Status In Lao
PDR
By Somphoun

2. OUTLINE
 ICT in Laos
 Laos Overview
 ICT-History
 Current Services
 Conclusion

3. Overview Laos
 Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) is a small,
landlocked country in Indochina, with China,
Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand as its
neighbors.
 A large part of the country is mountainous and
forested and has an abundance of natural
resources.

4.  Lao PDR was one of the last South East Asian
nations to adopt the Internet and the country faces
great barriers in Internet access and use.
 Lao PDR is one of the poorest countries in Asia and
still hasn’t satellite yet, just rent from Thailand.
 It ranks 122 on the human development index, with
27% of the population living on less than one dollar
per day.

5. Country Profile
 Country name : Lao PDR
 Capital city : Vientiane
 Mountain : 70%
 Population : 6,385,057 million
 Total Area : 236,800 Km2
 Province :17
 District :139
 GDP :8.298 billion USD
 GDP Growth : 8.0 %
 GDP Per capital : 1,281 USD
 Inflation rate : 3.67%
 Religion : Buddhism
 Language : Lao
 Literacy : 85%
 Rural population :80%
 Currency : Kip
 access to electricity : 40%
 access to electricity through the national grid :50%
 generators or car batteries to generate electricity :10%

6. ICT in Laos history
 Management History
 1975-1980 Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
 1980-1986 Ministry of Posts and Transport
 1986-2007 Department of Posts and Telecommunications
(MCTPC).
 2007-2011 NAPT (National Authority of Posts
&Telecommunications).
 2011 MPT (Ministry Of Posts and Telecommunications).

7.  1994, a joint venture was established between the
government and a Thai company, Shinawatra
International Public Company Limited, called Lao
Shinawatra Telecom Company Ltd (LST) to operate
telecom services (Shinawatra 49%, Laos 51%).
 30 years more will be ended the contract.

8. Now there are many Telecom companies
or services
 Lao Telecoms Company (LTC or LaoTel)
 51% Lao Government; 49% Shinawatra
 900 MHz GSM, and will have 1800 MHz in future
 450 MHz CDMA for WLL and 800 MHz CDMA for mobility
 Fixed lines, Mobile telephone, Wireless Local
 Loop and Internet Service, International telephone
 Fixed and international gateway facilities
 ETL (Enterprise of telecommunications Lao 2000)
 Fixed lines, Mobile telephone, Internet service
 100% State owned
 Owns aid assets from pre-LTC days
 Fixed and mobile (900 MHz GSM planned)
 Operates CSC cable connections to Vietnam and Thailand

9.  Millicom Beeline
 Prepaid Mobile telephone, Internet Service and, International
telephone
 78% Millicom: 22% Lao Government
 900 MHz GSM; 1800 MHz GSM in near future
 Other new players:
 Lao Asia Telecom – GSM network owned by Lao military
 Sky Telecom – CDMA 2000 1x EV-DO for WLL (Lao
Government key shareholder)
 Planet (internet provider)
 Unitel (officially opened 16th October 2009)
 Internet Service Provider (ISP)
 Fixed lines, Mobile telephone,

10. Number of using
• ICTs:
 -‰ Telecom and Internet Fixed lines: 106106
sub.
 ‰-Mobile (GSM): 3 819929
sub.
 -CDMA/WLL: 29570 sub.
 -Internet: 17 486 users.

-Number of websites in Lao languages: 297

-Number of websites in English: 660

-National transmission backbone: 155 Mbps

-International bandwidth : 1 Gbps

11. Proportion of percent
 - Fixed line: 2.14%.
 - Mobile: 26.35%.
 ‰‰Tele-density: 67%.
 - Internet: 0.12%.
 - Radio coverage: 80%.
 - TV coverage: 60%.

-Telephone lines per 100 inhabitants : 2.59%

-Cell phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants: 25.4%

-Computers per 100 inhabitants: 1.7%

-Internet users per 100 inhabitants: 1.77%

-Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants: 0.022%

-Internet cafes per 10,000 inhabitants: 0.71%

12. Current Market share
BEELINE 15%

13. Conclusion
 ICT in Lao PDR is under developing and a lot
of works/efforts are needed for the successful
of the development
 We continue open up the industry to facilitate
partnership and inward investment
opportunities in order to play our part in the
growth of the region.
 Critical to this is not just capital investment
but the transfer of skills and capabilities is so
critical to development of sustainable ICT
sector in Lao PDR.
 Training and Capacity-building at all levels are
necessary.

14. Reference
 Lao National Internet Center, MPT.
 National E-Government Center of Lao PDR, MPT.
 Department of Telecommunication.
 Department of Planning and Cooperation
 World Bank