Economic and Social Impact of Broadband Internet Adoption in Rural Thailand

Abstract

The objectives of this project were: 1) to assess the extent of broadband Internet adoption in rural areas, 2) to assess the economic impact of broadband internet adoption in rural areas, and 3) to evaluate the impact of the social capital received from broadband internet adoption in rural areas. The overall project provided broadband internet in rural areas. A purposeful sample from five locations in Zone C consisted of 500 people. An economic assessment was conducted through a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that included: 1) payback period, 2) net present value, 3) benefit/cost analysis, and 4) the project investment rate of return. These
instruments evaluated the returns and measured the specific financial costs associated with the project. An autoregressive model was used to evaluate the economic benefits. Additional tools were used to evaluate the social dimension benefits from the project in the data analysis. The main objective of the project was to provide people in rural areas with a service and reduce the gap in access to information and communications technology. As a result, there was no revenue generation through the collection of service charge, but the local economies benefited from the broadband internet adoption in the rural areas. The research results found that the financial dimension of the return was zero. The net present value (NPV) was 763,175,238
baht. The internal rate of return (IRR) was 10.64%. The people in the five rural locations also benefited by an increase in social capital from adopting the broadband Internet. Keyword : broadband, internet, adoption in rural areas