DE Ministry, NBTC ally in digital push
The Digital Economy and Society (DE) Ministry and the telecom regulator are working closely to enhance the development of the country’s digital infrastructure.
The collaboration, which complies with the Digital Economy and Society Development Act, will involve digitally-driven economy policies, said DE Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj.
The DE Ministry and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) entered into a verbal agreement on closer collaboration in February.
One of their first priorities is to jointly monitor the development of the 15-billion-baht national broadband network project to ensure the installation work lines up with the planned schedule, with no overlap.
The collaboration is also expected to enhance creation of so-called value-added digital services on the national broadband network, he said.
“The national broadband network is backbone infrastructure for the development of a digitally-driven economy,” Mr Pichet said.
Mr Pichet said the collaboration would come in three areas: monitoring and tackling the progress of installation work; adding value to the broadband network through a digital app platform; and fostering wireless high-speed broadband services for the DE Ministry’s 2,800 digital community centres and the NBTC’s 300 internet centres in border areas.
The government plans to install wireless broadband networks covering 40,432 villages across the country as the state tries to narrow the digital divide for people living in remote areas.
TOT Plc has been assigned to handle the installation of the national broadband network in 24,700 villages with an investment cost of 15 billion baht. The state telecom enterprise aims to complete the installation work in 2017.
The NBTC, meanwhile, will handle the installation of the remaining 15,732 villages. The regulator will use the universal service obligation fund for the broadband network investment, with installation to be completed by 2018.
The national broadband network project is part of government efforts to provide affordable high-speed internet access to low-income rural households. In each village, the state will also provide a free WiFi hotspot in a community area.
The DE Ministry will not provide internet directly to the public, but rather will act as a wholesaler to service providers both public and private.
To add value to the broadband network, Mr Pichet said the DE Ministry has assigned the two state agencies under the umbrella of the DE Ministry to develop an all-in-one e-commerce platform and a fully-integrated electronic health record (EHR) system that will help people benefit from the network.
The Electronic Transaction Development Agency is responsible for developing the all-in-one platform, aimed at encouraging e-commerce activities among Thais.
The Electronic Government Agency is responsible for working with the Ministry of Public Health to jointly develop the fully integrated EHR system to connect all 800 existing state hospital branches, plus 7,000 village health volunteer centres, with citizens’ smart ID cards.