ICT Ministry set to be rebranded
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The government says it will submit the Act that will result in the Information and Communication Technology Ministry being renamed the Digital for Economy and Society Ministry to the Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly next week while also propo
It also plans to submit the six amended digital laws by the end of the month and provide Internet broadbrand coverage to 95 per cent of the country by 2016.
Pridiyathorn Devakula, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, said that the digitalisation focus was in response to a private sector that wanted to utilise government services to support their business.
“The new Digital for Economy and Society Ministry has occurred from the demand of the private sector, who want to use government services to smoothly support their businesses and increase their productivity, as well as enabling small and medium-sized business to utilise the digital network to support and boost their businesses in order to enhance their capacity and productivity,” said Pridiyathorn.
In doing do, however, he said the country’s hard infrastructure had to be improved for national broadband, gateway and data collection.
He also said Thailand’s soft infrastructure, digital security and the promotion of the digital economy’s ecosystem had to be strengthened, while businesses needed to have confidence in online transactions.
ICT Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa said that to support the digital economy policy the ministry would next year set up a national boardband and data centre and a national gateway to support the new era of business.
Pornchai said the ministry would also revise its soft infrastructure including the digital laws in order to create consumer confidence in online transactions by boasting security and privacy around it.
To support the digital economy, he said the ministry was revising the six digital laws to better protect people and promote the policy.
Those laws include the Computer Crime Law, Digital Privacy Law and Cyber Security Law.
Pornchai said his team would work with other ministry, such as the Agriculture, Interior and Public Health ministries, and the private sector to provide an integrated digital database and information to people nationwide via wireline and wireless.
“The ministry expects to provide Internet broadband to support people and cover 80 per cent of the nation in 2015, increasing to 95 per cent in 2016,” he said.
