Digital Economy/ICT

The Digital Economy grows as non digital activity becomes digitized, and new innately digital activity enters the economy. The WGs crafted definition of the Digital Economy reflects this analysis and also that we rely on the hard and soft infrastructure of the telecoms ecosystem.

The holistic approach thus shows understanding of an ecosystem. Topics include telecoms/SOE reform, trade and investment in the sector, networks, spectrum, IoT, AI, cybersecurity, data privacy, digital ID, digital government, regulatory governance, competition, digital assets, eCommerce, digitization and digital literacy and enhancing digital skills.

While the focus is Thailand, Thailand is part of increasingly integrated ASEAN activity (and as ASEAN chair has regional digital goals) and global standards and practices which are embraced.

Our active participants are MNCs, SMEs and some larger local companies. The WG is a joint group, meeting concurrently with JFCCT’s Digital Economy/ICT Committee, about ten times per year with many external dialogues, seminars, business promotion and other engagements. The WG started with the founding of EABC.

Information about Working Group Chair

Mr Bob Fox has had careers in law (Baker & McKenzie), industry (a conglomerate and project director and university Council member of Australia’s first private university-now in its 30^th year) and an extensive career in telecoms, and other digital businesses. In the telecoms sector, he was a regional director APAC for BT (British Telecom), and later a NASDAQ listed broadband services company, group CEO of one of Malaysia’s largest listed companies, one of the founding senior executives for Starhub (Singapore) and du (UAE). He has held other regional director APAC roles in IT services, analytics, and digital media and is currently in regional IT services.

He has been involved with regional trade and investment policy for over a decade. In Thailand he has devised and developed policy recommendations on foreign investment, Rule of Law, arbitration, regulator governance, SOE and telecoms reform, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy and Work Permit & Visa.