Mekong countries agree on direct telecom links
Mekong countries agree on direct telecom links
By Maja Wallengren
PHNOM PENH (Reuter): The six nations of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) plan to set up a network of direct telecommunications links.
The decision came in early July at a meeting in Phnom Penh of the GMS countries -- Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and southwest China -- and work is expected to start next year, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) project engineer Robert Rothery.
Rothery said the $200 million project is expected to begin with work on the leg connecting Phnom Penh with southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City.
He said 13 projects were planned for the new cable network, with a priority placed on the East Loop, which will connect Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh in north Vietnam, Vientiane and Nong Khai in northeast Thailand.
"We have established the East Loop as a priority project to proceed with. It's been decided to push forward on the projects completing it," he said. Construction costs of the loop had been estimated at around $50 million, he added.
Rothery, noting the dynamic and growing economies of Southeast Asia, said it was reasonable to expect rapid demand in the near future for improved telecommunications services.
"Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma) are quite isolated from the region because all the countries are relying on an international satellite, which puts the cost up and the quality down," he told Reuters.
"Telecommunications goes hand in hand with increased trade and economic development, but telecommunications services and facilities here are very limited."
However, Rothery saw progress over the past year on the telecom network in Indochina, including the launch last February of a submarine cable link between Thailand and Vietnam.
"Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, (central Vietnam's) Danang and all the points in Vietnam now have very good direct links to Bangkok and the rest of the world," he said.
"In telecom today the trend is to look beyond borders and to link national networks into sub-regional and regional networks," said Michael Calvano, Southeast Asia representative for the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
"What's significant about the project is that this link is going to establish direct cooperation between the countries," Calvano told Reuters, adding: "We hope to have the Ho Chi Minh City-Phnom Penh leg finished by the end of next year."
The ITU has been working with the Indochina countries for a number of years and Calvano said the new direct service was "a good starting point" for further improvements.
He said the link would use an optical fiber cable, which will provide GMS countries with state-of-the-art technology that does not depend on an energy source.
"It will not just link up the capitals of provincial centers but it will provide a trunk network from which branches can be laid to allow you to reach all, even remote, parts of all these countries," Calvano said.
Foreign businessmen in the GMS region have welcomed the plan, saying it could lead to significant savings for investors in the region, now marked by some of the world's lowest telephone density rates and the highest costs to consumers.
"For a foreign businessman here...the reliability of telecommunications is critical. Right now it's very difficult. I am getting constant complaints of faxes not getting through almost on a daily basis," one long-term investor in Asia said.
"It would be a big step in the right direction. Obviously, to set up a cable like that would make a big difference to our operation, there would be significant savings," said another businessman working in several of the GMS countries.
Future projects include a west loop, connecting Myanmar through Thailand, and a north loop, connecting southern China's Yunnan province through Laos and Vietnam.
"It's going to take years...but the national objective is set and some efforts have been carried out," Calvano said. "Once they begin to collaborate...there will be plenty more projects."