National Telecom to develop cloud managed platform amid rising demand

The Digital Economy and Society Ministry has commissioned National Telecom (NT), the state telecom enterprise, to create a Cloud Managed Platform (CMP). This development comes in response to the substantial demand among state agencies for a central portal to access services from any cloud provider.

Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary Nattapon Nattasomboon announced that NT received an allocation of 600 million baht (US$17 million) from the ministry’s 2024 investment budget to develop the CMP. The budget allocation is currently under review by the House of Representatives.

Nattapon, who doubles as NT’s chairman, acknowledged that the existing Government Data Center and Cloud (GDCC) system operated by NT can only support 25,000 virtual machines (VMs) for state units. This capacity is significantly lower than the nationwide demand from state units, which stands at 800,000 VMs for cloud adoption.

The proposed CMP will facilitate centralised access and supervision for state agencies and units to securely utilise cloud services. Previously, the Cabinet passed a resolution mandating all state units to use the GDCC system. However, due to the system’s limited capacity, some state agencies continue to lease capacity from private cloud servers.

To ensure the smooth operation of the CMP system, NT may need to collaborate with multiple cloud server providers. This project also requires the green light from the National Digital Economy and Society Commission.

In the meantime, NT is planning to reduce its workforce from 12,600 to 11,000 by the end of the year, in line with its turnaround strategy. This was announced by NT’s president, Colonel Sanphachai Huvanandana.

New companies

In addition, NT has plans to split its profitable business units into three new companies this year, with some employees being transferred to these new entities.

Furthermore, Nattapon had earlier expressed NT’s interest in participating in the smart meter project managed by the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and Provincial Electricity Authority. This will involve providing data communication services to the two-state enterprises.

This initiative is one of NT’s strategies to tap into new business opportunities as it anticipates a revenue loss of 40 billion baht (US$1.15 million) when its business agreements with private mobile phone operators expire and its rights to use several spectrum ranges end in September 2025, reported Bangkok Post.

Meanwhile, Col. Sanphachai revealed that NT’s management is formulating a business strategy for the post-2025 period. This includes enhancing its mobile and fixed broadband services’ capabilities, and increasing the value of its assets through management restructuring and spinning off profitable units into new companies.

Despite booking an operating loss of 9 billion baht (US$259,079) in 2022 due to various disputes, NT managed to post an operating profit of 500 million baht (US$14 million) between January and November 2023. The company is currently seeking to negotiate and settle numerous disputes with other enterprises and private companies, with 17 cases involving compensation demands exceeding 1 billion baht (US$28.7 million).

Finally, Col. Sanphachai pointed out that NT will need to increase the value of its buildings and land. With more than 2,400 rai of land nationwide, the return on investment is currently a meagre 0.2%.

In related news, Thailand aims to be Southeast Asia’s AI hub by 2027, attract foreign tech investment in cloud data centres and develop an AI-skilled.