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Published on March 28, 2008

Thailand's information and communication technologies (ICT) market is expected to be worth about Bt608 billion this year, a growth of 13.1 per cent over last year's figure of Bt537 billion, the Thailand ICT Outlook for 2008, a survey conducted by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec), said.

The research team has classified the market into two categories: ICT and IT. Each category comprises four sub-market segments, of which the first three segments in both categories are computer hardware, software and computer services.

According to the survey, the hardware market is valued at Bt73 billion, the computer software market at Bt67 billion and the computer services market at Bt26 billion.

Meanwhile, the fourth segment for both categories is different - communications for the ICT market and data-communication equipment for the IT market. The communications market is expected to be worth Bt441 billion, while the data-communication equipment market is valued at Bt67 billion.

While the total ICT market is expected to grow 13.1 per cent this year, the IT market is expected to grow 14.4 per cent, rising to Bt234 billion from Bt204 billion last year. This growth rate is higher than the IT market's growth which was 6.3 per cent (compared to 2006 figures).

The computer services market is expected to post the highest growth rate at 26.9 per cent, and the computer software market is expected to grow at 17.6 per cent.

These are followed by the data-communication equipment market and the computer hardware market at 15.9 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

The software and computer services markets have continued to grow over the last two years. The software market earned Bt57 billion last year compared to Bt50 billion in 2006. Meanwhile, the computer services segment posted a revenue of Bt20 billion last year over Bt17 billion in 2006.

"Software, computer services and data-communication equipment markets are the three segments that are expected to report higher growth this year," the report said.

The software market is expected to grow at 17.6 per cent, a growth rate which is higher than last year's 14.2 per cent.

The computer services market is expected to grow at 26.9 per cent, a significant rise from last year's growth rate of 17 per cent.  The computer services market consists of system integration, network services, software, data and hardware maintenance services, data centre and disaster recovery centre, IT-related training, IT consulting and IT

outsourcing.

The top three computer services in terms of growth rate are IT outsourcing at 39.8 per cent, IT consulting at 30.7 per cent, and data centre and disaster recovery centre at 30.5

per cent.

The data-communication equipment market is expected to grow at 15.9 per cent,  increasing from 6.8 per cent last year.

"Only the computer hardware market is expected to have decreased growth this year. It is expected to grow at 6.8 per cent while last year it grew at 9.8 per cent," the report said.

Within the software market, enterprise software earned Bt59 billion, growing at 16.2 per cent; mobile applications drew Bt2.7  billion, growing at 36.1 per cent; and embedded software posted Bt2,688 million, a growth of 39 per cent.

Other segments in the software category - system and infrastructure software, middleware and applications such as customer relationship management and accounting systems - grossed Bt2,240 million, a growth rate of 13.6 per cent.

The report also said that the factors driving growth in software include demand from the new government, the e-government scheme, wider software adoption from small and medium enterprises and the growth of cellphone users.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation