Status of ICT development in Lao PDR

1. Regional Workshop on Knowledge-hubs in Asia-Pacific Region
Nanjing, China, 8-10 September 2009
Telecenter Development in Laos
Mr. Phonpasit PHISSAMAY
Director General
Information technology Research Institute
National Authority for Science and Technology

2. Outline
• Laos facts (ICT)
• Telecenter initiatives
• E-Government Project
• Conclusion

3. Laos Fact
• Total population 5.62 Million
• Rural population 69 %
• GDP per capita USD 850
• Literacy rate 85%
• Tele-density 28 %
• 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 2.3
• Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants 0.022
• Internet cafes per 10,000 inhabitants 0.71

4. First Telecenter Project in Laos
• Name: E-Way
• Location: Luang Prabang Province (UNESCO Heritage City)
• Funded by: International Development Research Center (250,000 $)
• Implemented by: National Authority for Science and Technology
• Objective:
– Internet access for the Local communities people
– Computer and English training center
– Content creation and distribution for the Local communities
• Service Operation:
– 2003-2005: Participate Development Training Center (Local NGO)
– 2006: Science and Technology Provincial office Luang Prabang
– 2007: Stop operation and give the equipment to school.

5. Barriers of e-Way
• High cost of Internet connection (400$ per month)
• Ownership
• High salary for the Telecenter manager and staffs
• Low participation from the local communities people
• Low income generation
we could not make the e-way sustainable operation,
but we very glad to see the ICT growth in the province:
More private Internet café
More computer training schools
More local people using Internet for communication

6. Rural Telecenters Project
• Funded by: Government of India (500,000 USD)
• Location:
– 7 centers in 7 provinces along Mekong river (3 local administration, 2 schools
and 2 Public-private)
– 3 centers in Vientiane Capital (ministry of public health, agriculture and rural
development authority: (www.telecentter.gov.la and www.talath.gov.la )
• Objective:
– Information provider (floating, agriculture, healthcare, community project and etc)
– Support the distribution of local products
• Service operation:
– 2006: installation and training for the Center operator
– 2007: Self operation by the Telecenter operator with the project subsidized for
the Internet connection until December 2008. The status in 2009
• Public-Private Telecenter still continue the operation
• Local administration reserved for Internal use only
• School has converted to training room and disconnected from Internet

7. Barriers of Rural Telecenter
• Still high cost of Internet connection (400$ per month)
• No income for the local administration and school
Telecenters, while public-private make great income
from tourism business.
• Content are poor and not regular update by the content
provider in Vientiane.
• Telecenter is lack of its own program to make the
equipments more useful.

8. e-Health Center Project
• Funded by: Asia Development Bank (500,000 USD)
• Location: 8 Hospital and 8 Healthcare centers in two provinces
• Objective:
– Healthcare Information provider (www.health-Center.gov.la)
– Create the Database for hospital and healthcare center
• Service operation: Project just started in 2009 and schedule to
completed by 2011.

9. National E-Government Project
• Establish the e-Gov service center (1+16)
• Establish the e-Gov infrastructure
• Computerization government offices
(130+160+250)
• Development e-Service application (7)
• Human Resource Development
(40+300+900+3000)
(35 millions, 2007-2009)

10. National E-Government Infrastructure
WIMAX
WIMAX
Data Center
Data Center OFC
OFC
Application
Application
Servers
Servers
Core Routers
Core Routers FE
FE
7750 SR7
7750 SR7 Vientiane Fiber
Fiber
Layer 2 Switch
Layer 2 Switch
7250 T5C
7250 T5C
LAT National 16 Governor offices
STM1
STM1
N GE
N GE Backbone 16 E-gov provincial
E-gov
Edge Routers
service centers
Edge Routers
Vientiane
Vientiane
transmission
transmission
2.5G SDH
2.5G SDH Edge Routers
Edge Routers
WIMAX
WIMAX MW
MW
STM 1
STM 1
WIMAXv
WIMAXv
STM1
STM1 WIMAX
WIMAX
25 district and 160
provincial divisions
• 2.5 Gbps backbone between NAST-MOD
NAST-
NAST-MOD
•155 Mbps OFC connecting to 51 ministries offices in Vientiane
•155
•2 Mbps ADSL connecting to 28 ministries office in Vientiane
•2
WIMAX
WIMAX Dial-Up/ISDN
Dial-
Dial-Up/ISDN
200 Village Offices
100 VIP houses in Vientiane

11. E-Gov application
• National e-Gov Portal (www.laos.la)
• E-Archive
• E-Document
• E-Registration
• E-Map
• E-Learning
• Teleconference

12. Conclusion
• In country such as Laos, with so many pressing basic development
needs, it is not surprising that attempts at establish Internet
connectivity and E-business have been hampered by a general lack
of skills and resource, Low levels of PC penetration, combined with
poor telecommunication network with also slow the process.
• There is currently a high level of interest in ICT development in the
country. ICT implementations and strategies, and the allocation of
resources, from the government, donors, and the private sectors,
towards ICT development are reflected in existing ICT related
projects focusing on human resources development, governance,
administration, and information management.