Laos Mobile Catches Up

                           by David Parmer

Laos is joining the 21st century-fast, but it has a long way to go to catch up to some of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

In this country of just over 6.0 million people, most of the inhabitants are found in rural areas, something like 73% of its people live on the land. Efforts are being made to connect people, but Internet use is the lowest in the region at around 8-10%; the only other countries with LESS connectivity are Myanmar at 1% and East Timor at 0.2%.

And Laos, like its neighbors in Vietnam and Cambodia looks to be skipping the PC and going to tablet and mobile, mostly mobile. The country has 3.8 million mobile users, which makes mobile penetration at around 60%. And it is expected that by the end of 2015 there will be 5.4 million mobile users.

There are four mobile providers in Laos:

• Lao Telecom
• ETL
• Beeline
• Unitel

Recent government regulations have created a level playing field where prices are about the same regardless of provider.

Uses choose their provider based on location and service.

The government says it has no plans to crack down on social media as it is necessary for development, but on the other hand keeps a tight control on content, particularly any criticism of the government or any anti-social content. Vietnam and Thailand have similar controls in place regarding internet content.

It will be interesting to watch how this country, like some of its neighbors will be changed forever with the advancement of hi-tech communications. Now Myanmar and East Timor have to catch up.

Photo: Talk Vietnam