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
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