ICT federation makes 'digital economy' proposals to govt

The proposals consist of four main parts, namely infrastructure, business and e-commerce, people and resources, and government. They will be submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula and the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.

Under the infrastructure proposal, the TFIT urges the government to ensure that a national broadband network with a minimum speed of 30 megabits per second cover 90 per cent of households by 2016, with speeds of at least 100Mbps available to 95 per cent of the population by 2020. 

Moreover, the government should encourage sharing of infrastructure and rights of way in order to reduce investment overlaps, which could cut costs by at least 15 per cent.

The government should invest more in international gateways, especially submarine fibre-optic networks, which should number five within five years. 

Under the business and e-commerce proposal, the TFIT wants the government to encourage the development of 800,000 e-commerce enterprises with business-to-consumer value of Bt5 billion by 2016. The government should establish a national e-commerce framework and set up a key performance index for e-commerce organisations.

Moreover, the government should educate small and medium-sized enterprises on the proper application of technology to help them reduce costs while increasing competitiveness. If this is done, 5,000 SMEs could reduce costs by 10 per cent next year, and up to 15,000 SMEs by 2017. As a whole, the government should help the country’s e-commerce grow 15 per cent by 2016.

Under the people and resources proposal, the government should increase information-technology literacy – the ability to use computers and the Internet – to 80 per cent by next year. Sixty per cent of IT personnel should have ICT-related certification by 2015 and 100 per cent by 2016. A fund worth Bt5 billion should be set aside for development of ICT human resources, and a national digital-content data centre established by 2017.

Under the fourth proposal, the government should make “smart cities” possible in at least 20 provinces next year and up to 40 provinces by 2017. The government’s working processes should be digitised, especially business-to-government processes, at the rate of 40 per cent by 2015 and 70 per cent by 2016. 

The government should also adjust laws related to ICT and digital to facilitate electronic transactions and set up an ICT Council by next year.