NBTC, FCC link on telecom
Thailand will take another step forward in its telecom regulatory development with a collaborative agreement between the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The NBTC was approached by the FCC, an independent US government agency overseen by Congress, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in knowledge exchange on regulatory development in telecom and broadcasting.
“The cooperative work with the FCC will enable the NBTC to modernise regulatory development in telecom. We also expect the FCC to help us remove illicit content posted by US-based social media,” said Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC.
He said FCC chairman Ajit Pai had sent him an email last month explaining his interest in Thailand’s telecom regulatory development and the auction procedures for the fourth-generation (4G) licenses.
Mr Pai proposed that the work of both parties could be further developed through an MoU agreement. He also invited NBTC commissioners and delegates to visit the FCC office in Washington.
In a related development, NBTC chairman ACM Thares Punsri last week inked an MoU with Nikolay Nikiforov, Russia’s Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications.
The agreement aims to create collaboration in cybersecurity and joint development of telecom and broadcasting services between the two nations.
Cybersecurity is the primary point of interest for Thailand, as the Russian government has expertise in dealing with the growth of mobile payment usage, especially in terms of fraud prevention and mitigating for errors in a cashless society, said Mr Takorn. Thailand can further learn methods to handle illicit online content.
He said the Russian and Thai governments will work closely in the areas of strategic knowledge for cybersecurity and reduction of international mobile roaming fares.
“Knowledge on measures governing fund transfers, fraud and illegal content will be beneficial for the Bank of Thailand and national security agencies,” he said.
Thailand has almost 100 million mobile subscribers and increasing popularity in using mobile payment via telecom networks is also creating more sophisticated forms of fraud.