Good 3G coverage, but lack of bandwidth

Good 3G coverage, but lack of bandwidth

Laos has seen the fastest growth of third generation (3G) coverage among the countries in the region, with mobile phone signal now covering almost all the country's territory since the service was first provided in 2008.

A woman talks on the phone with a telecommunication tower in the background.

According to the report from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, 3G mobile phone signal now covers all the country's provinces, and 110 of the total 147 districts have the signal reach.

The rapid 3G expansion is due to competition among the telecom firms in Laos. At present, there are four telecom firms namely Lao Telecom, Enterprise of Lao Telecommunication, Unitel, and Beeline.

Internet users said that despite the fact that Laos offers 3G service, customers complain that the internet signal is still weak compared to 3G services in other countries.

In response to this, an official from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication's Department of Telecommuni-cation said currently there are numerous companies sharing bandwidth.

Vientiane Times enquired as to why the service providers do that, and the official responded that they do not want to invest considerable capital and would rather save money.

The government has also given approval for telecom firms to introduce 4G, which will enable Lao mobile users to access faster internet services. However, 4G expansion is still limited to the downtown area of Vientiane.

Currently, there are around 106,000 subscribers for telecom and Internet fixed lines, 308,000 mobile phone subscribers, and 29,500 Internet users in the country instead.

Despite the fact that Laos has had 3G available for five years now, the number of Internet users is estimated at only 5 percent of the total population, leaving the country far behind neighbouring Thailand which only began to offer the service this year.

According to online sources, Thailand had a population of 66.4 million in 2010 with 26.3 percent using the Internet.

By Times Reporters (Latest Update June 21, 2013)