Disruptive.Asia Comments on How Huawei and ONDE Are Helping Thailand Fight COVID-19 and Go Digital at the Same Time

Disruptive.Asia has talked to Vunnaporn Devahastin, Secretary General of the Office of the National Digital Economy and Society Commission (ONDE) of Thailand, which is collaborating with Huawei Technologies on various fronts to not only fight COVID-19 with digital technologies, but advance and accelerate Thailand’s efforts to become a digital nation, in this week’s Huawei Better World Summit.

According to Vunnaporn Devahastin, there are 3 key ONDE initiatives to combat COVID-19, which are enabling government agencies and state enterprises to implement work-from-home (WFH) policies, raising sellers’ capabilities in e-commerce and enhancing rural connectivity, and providing financial support to create the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Development Fund.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has been working with Huawei Technology (Thailand) Co Ltd to find ways that medical staff can leverage advanced digital technologies powered by the integration of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud computing.

For example, in April 2020, MDES and Huawei deployed a solution for Ramathibodi Hospital and Siriraj Hospital that combines these technologies to diagnose COVID-19 cases. Using AI, hospital staff can now analyze CT scans and compare them with over 4,000 cases stored in a database that is accessed using a local high-speed 5G network. This solution enables COVID-19 diagnoses to be processed in just 25 seconds.

Disruptive.Asia thinks the biggest benefit of applying digital technologies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is that Thailand progresses towards the goal of becoming a digital economy: “Thailand 4.0” has actually been accelerated.

Huawei is working with the Thai government to help achieve its digital goals in three phases, starting with enhancement of digital infrastructure with 5G, cloud data centers and fiber internet backbones in rural areas.

Phase 2 involves remote digital transformation of different vertical industries to help with economic recovery.

Phase 3 will focus on finding ways to use digital technology for sustainable economic and social development, helping Thailand establish itself as a global digital leader.

5G will be a central enabler of Thailand’s digital landscape and the rollouts of 5G are now underway with key government policies.

5G is just one of several technologies that will enable the digital future. Huawei and ONDE will continue to collaborate to help every sector utilize digital technologies to ensure the needs of Thai people are served by the digital economy. After all, a digital economy is only beneficial if everyone can access it.

About Disruptive.Asia

Disruptive.Asia covers the current state of digital disruption in the Asia-Pacific telecoms, fintech and internet sectors – where it’s coming from, what’s driving it, the impact it’s having on each industry, how the key players are responding and what’s next.

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Tony Poulos
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