Infrastructure
Communications
Vietnam introduces eight key digital programs for 2020-25
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) introduced eight core programs for the 2020-2025 period and reviewed results achieved by the information and communications (ICT) sector in the past five years at the 5th Congress of the Ministry’s Party Committee held in Hanoi on 18 August. During the 2015-2020 ...
Samaya Dharmaraj
Exclusive: Thailand’s vision for trusted digital ID
Thailand wants to completely do away with physical identity cards, and instead replace them with a new digital ID system that will give people more control over what data they share. Improving the nation’s digital identity system is a “genesis block” of the digital economy, says ...
Tian Jiao Lim
Digital 2020 Report on Laos Released: Internet, Mobile, and Social Media
We Are Social and Hootsuite have released their joint annual global digital overview report for 2020, detailing global statistics for digital, mobile, and social media use. According to the latest report, the number of people around the world using the internet has grown to 4.54 billion, an increase of ...
Jasmina Yap
Thailand Post plans Smart Mailboxes using IoT
Thailand Post says it is switching to smart mailboxes in an effort to make the state enterprise more in line with the current digital landscape. Thailand Post Co Ltd, a state enterprise under the Digital Economy and Society Ministry, is collaborating with CAT Telecom Plc to develop smart mailboxes for ...
Alita Sharon
Second year of internet shutdown in Myanmar
The internet shutdown in Myanmar’s conflict-ridden northwest, described by rights groups as the world’s longest, entered a second year on Sunday with locals and campaigners appealing for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region. The Myanmar military has been embroiled in a ...
AFP
U.S. court asked to force Facebook to release Myanmar officials' data for genocide case
Lawyers bringing a case before the World Court accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a U.S. district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications of the country’s military and police. The International Court of Justice based in the Hague ...
Anthony Deutsch
Vietnam launches digital transformation campaign
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) launched a campaign in Hanoi on 22 May to step up digital transformation using cloud computing technology. At the launch ceremony, the MIC Minister, Nguyen Manh Hung, said that domestic telecom companies have mastered the technology and built basic platforms for distant learning, ...
Samaya Dharmaraj
Vietnam, Laos Arrest Facebookers on COVID-19-Related Charges
Authorities in Vietnam and Laos have arrested several Facebook users on charges related to the coronavirus, with Hanoi punishing posts that challenge official reporting on the pandemic and Vientiane acting against a lockdown violation streamed live. The two arrests in Vietnam come as the Communist Party ...
RFA’s Vietnamese and Lao Services. Translated by Huy Le and Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
On the lookout for the silver lining: supporting e-commerce in Laos
13 to 16 April was Pi Mai, the Lao national holiday that welcomes in the Buddhist new year. Usually characterised by festive gatherings, water fights and the consumption of large quantities of Beer Lao, this year it was quiet and subdued, as the country of seven million entered ...
Tamara Failor, Nicola Nixon
Technology and e-commerce companies respond to the crisis
Services that deliver food, groceries, medical supplies and packages are among the few businesses thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic after local authorities ordered the closure of bars, dine-in restaurants, and entertainment facilities throughout much of Myanmar. More and more Myanmar people are practising social distancing ...
Andrew King