The Decision to Use Public Internet Services to Access Digital Content in Thailand

Abstract

This study applies a multinomial discrete choice model and the generalized maximum entropy (GME) estimation method to examine factors for determining which free public Internet services that Thai people decide to use to access essential digital content. Thai government currently provides three free services to Thai citizen which are (i) free usage of some applications on mobile broadband, (ii) Internet centers provided by the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and (iii) free Wi-Fi on the street.

The dataset utilised in this study consists of 6,537 observations which are collected from field surveys covering all regions of Thailand. Each observation contains the characteristics of potential users and their decisions toward choices of public Internet service. The results indicate that urban people with the age above 20 years and low income are more likely to choose the free applications on mobile broadband. Females are the target for the USO Internet center. However, the free Wi-Fi service is not a preferable choice for Internet users who are living in the city.