BEIJING, Nov. 21 -- Thaksin Shinawatra, prime minister of Thailand, invited Huawei Technologies Co. to help Thailand modernize its government network during his visit to the Shenzhen-based telecom company yesterday.

    The prime minister was in Shenzhen on Saturday and Sunday to attend the CEO Summit of the Boao Forum for Asia, which runs till today.

    The Thai Government is planning to upgrade its ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure within five years and is looking for a solutions provider. Thaksin asked Huawei to draft proposals for the project and apply the company's e-government technology to the network.

    The plan was initiated after Thaksin saw the advanced government networks in many Chinese cities. "I visited many Chinese cities in the past years. The more I came to China, the more I feel Thailand should speed up Thailand's modernization process," the prime minister said.

    The project is quite urgent, according to Thaksin. "We can't wait. We can't go step by step. It's already the digital age," he said.

    The proposal could be finalized as early as the first quarter of next year. A contract could be signed in the second quarter, while installation could start in the third quarter, Thaksin said.

    Thaksin visited Huawei's exhibition hall and inspected the company's broadband and mobile communication products. Thaksin, who is the founder of AIS, Thailand's biggest private telecom carrier, asked questions relating to Huawei's products.

    Thaksin said he was impressed by Huawei's development. He called for more collaboration between Huawei and Thai telecom operators.

    Thailand is one of the earliest overseas markets that Huawei explored. Last year, Huawei's sales volume from the Thai market was US$134.37 million and the sales are expected to be US$330 million this year.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily)