The State Enterprise Policy Office (Sepo) has assigned National Telecom (NT) to enhance its plan to develop its two new data centres to serve high demand for digital transformation among government offices under the country's "Cloud First" policy.
In the initial phase, the plan is to jointly invest in up to 1,000 combined racks with foreign partners. The location is expected to be NT's office on Ngam Wong Wan Road as part of NT's strategy of adding value to its property assets.
According to NT president Col Sanphachai Huvanandana, the development of the new data centres is one of several additional plans within its existing businesses strategy aimed at creating a new revenue stream for the company.
The two new data centres serve NT's plan to add value to its properties in six areas of Bangkok and adjacent areas. NT's office at Khlong Toey, covering a 4-rai area, along with its office in Ngam Wong Wan, covering a 70-rai area, are two of the six areas included in the plan.
Col Sanphachai said four foreign companies are interested in partnering with NT to develop the two new data centres.
NT's two existing data centres located in Bang Rak and Nonthaburi have been providing services mainly to state enterprises and agencies at almost full capacity and they are not expected to expand the service capacity within the next one to two years.
He said the development of the new data centres is projected to take 20 months, so the conclusion of the development plan must be completed soon.
"Sepo places great importance in the project as it could save government budget due to the huge demand for cloud data servers in line with the government's Cloud First policy and the digital transformation process," Col Sanphachai said.
The local cloud market is expected to expand by around 20% annually.
Col Sanphachai said Singapore has stopped expanding its cloud and data centre ecosystem in Singapore, while Malaysia is regarded as a direct competitor of Thailand as the Malaysian government offers additional benefits to attract investment such as electricity prices at half the rate of those available in Thailand as well as free land on which to build cloud-based data centres for the investors.
Therefore, NT must coordinate with the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry to offer government benefits to attract investment. NT would also identify more customers in the form of private companies to use its cloud service, Col Sanphachai said.
He said that despite massive demand, NT has a limited investment budget as it is a state enterprise that requires approval of any investment budget via the annual fiscal budget. Partnering with the private sector is one way to practically move ahead with the development of the new cloud and data centres.
Development of the cloud data centre scheme in the country would also take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technology.
NT operates the Government Data Center and cloud system to serve state units' operations with the strength of its security system.
A source at the DES Ministry who requested anonymity said the foreign companies interested in joining NT in the establishment of two new data centres may include Amazon Web Service (AWS), which was a business partner with CAT Telecom before CAT and TOT merged to become NT. The others could be Microsoft and Huawei Technologies, the source added.
Col Sanphachai said NT submitted its additional business plans for 2024, which include seven project developments, to Sepo on Dec 16.
The projects include the development aimed at adding value to its existing properties in Bangkok, exploring new business opportunities from AI and data tech, digital government service operations, the establishment of a joint venture company, increasing sales of its mobile services from machine-to-machine solutions and IoT, developing neutral last mile services, and seeking partners for its broadband service.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2730379/