Competition and Broadband Outcomes in the ASEAN-5

Lourdes O. MontenegroPhD Candidate

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public PolicyNational University of Singapore

Email: mailmontenegro@gmail.com

9 January 2016

So near, yet so far...

Median client round trip time

Source: M-Lab

So near, yet so far...

Download throughput

Source: M-Lab

So near, yet so far...

Upload throughput

Source: M-Lab

Other key statsCountry International

bandwidth in Mbps

(October 2015)

International bandwidth CAGR

(2005-2014)

Total broadband subscribers (June 2015)

Indonesia 1,117,301 72% 7,405,000

Malaysia 1,746,695 63% 2,906,000

Philippines 747,665 52% 8,671,548

Thailand 957,252 63% 5,950,000

Vietnam 1,024,225 71% 6,698,948

Country Broadband household

penetration rate

GDP per capita (PPP USD)

Population density

Indonesia 10.7% 10,033 140

Malaysia 42.4% 23,803 91

Philippines 37.9% 6,661 332

Thailand 26.8% 13,882 132

Vietnam 26.2% 5,370 292

Source: Telegeography, World Bank

Indonesia

● Top ASNs according to advertised IPv4 routes: PT Telekomunikasi (AS7713), PT Mora Telematika (AS23947), and Indosat (AS4761)

● PT Telekomunikasi peers with PT Mora Telematika

Source: Telegeography, Hurricane Electric

Indonesia● Local loop unbundling: legal obligations exist

but alternative providers have not pushed to Telkom and Indosat to open their networks

● MCIT Decree No. 33/2004: rules to prohibit abuse of dominant position

● License according to whether network operator, service operator or special operators

● WiMAX auctions in 2009, licenses awarded to 8/73 participants

● Presidential Decree 96/2014: allows spectrum sharing

Malaysia

● Top ASNs: Telekom Malaysia (AS4788), Global Transit Communications – Malaysia (AS24218), Extreme (AS38182) and Time dotCom Berhad (AS9930)

● Time peers with TM

Source: Telegeography, Hurricane Electric

Malaysia● Local loop unbundling: regulated prices for

bitstream access since 2005; Telekom Malaysia's new high-speed broadband network is exempted currently

● Licensing: network facilities provider, network services providers, application services providers and content application services providers

Philippines

● Top ASNs: PLDT (AS9299), Eastern Telecom (AS9658), Bayan (AS6648) and Globe (AS4775)

● No observed peering with largest and next largest ASN but Globe and Bayan peers

Source: Telegeography, Hurricane Electric

Philippines● Local loop unbundling: not specific● Many rules are muddy, including WiMAX

allocations● Licensing is protracted and telecom law

viewed as obsolete

Thailand

● Top 3 ASNs by number of IPv4 routes advertised: CAT (AS4651), True Intl. Gateway (AS38082) and TOT (AS38040)

● CAT peers with TrueSource: Telegeography, Hurricane Electric

Thailand● Local loop unbundling: private agreements

between TOT and service-based operator● After 2006, licenses for: international internet

gateway, national internet exchange, VoIP● Different ISP license types according to

whether service (Type 1) or infrastructure-based (Type 3)

● As of 2014: 23 valid Type 3 licenses issued● In short, Thailand is broadband market is

contestable

Vietnam

● Top ASNs: Viettel (AS7552), FPT (AS18403), VNPT (AS7643) and Mobifone (AS45896)

● Viettel peers with Mobifone

Source: Telegeography, Hurricane Electric

Vietnam● Local loop unbundling: None but planned for

2020 masterplan● Circular No. 12/2014/TT-BTTT: regulatory

standards for fixed land broadband

IP interconnection overview

Country IPv4 Peers for largest AS

IXP traffic Number of ASNs

Indonesia 276 128G 1,010

Malaysia 182 838M 225

Philippines 124 12.9G 383

Thailand 145 3.98G 476

Vietnam 75 24.7G 269

Source: Hurricane Electric, Packet Clearinghouse

Conclusion

● Contestability is key: regulations must facilitate ease of entry

● Need to lower the transaction costs of licensing by simplifying the licensing processes for a variety of internet related services (e.g. removing the requirement for a legislative franchise)

Promote “ICT Manifesto for Shared Prosperity”