NSC chief tipped to be new CAT chairman
GENERAL THAWEEP NETRNIYOM, secretary-general of the Office of the National Security Council, is expected to be named the new chairman of the CAT Telecom board.
CAT’s board-member selection committee has already named Thaweep a new board member, replacing General Sirichai Dithakul, who resigned as chairman to become Labour Minister.
The Information and Communication Technology Ministry has asked the State Enterprise Policy Commission to approve Thaweep’s appointment. Once that happens, the board members will convene to vote to select the new chairman.
If Thaweep is appointed chairman, it would be the first time the chief of the National Security Council has been appointed to the top job at CAT.
Under Thaweep chairmanship, it is expected that CAT would focus more on enhancing the nation’s cybersecurity.
CAT operates the largest international Internet gateway network and submarine cable network.
The government earlier sparked a fierce outcry from groups of netizens following its disclosure that it was studying the possibility of implementing a single-gateway network policy as a means to regulate the Internet.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the idea was still in the study stage. If there were no law supporting this plan and if it violated people’s rights, it would not be carried out, he said.
Last week when asked by reporters if the plan to develop the single gateway had been scrapped, ICT minister Uttama Savanayana said that there had never been a plan to promote a single gateway.
