Thailand 4.0 to ensure high-speed Internet access

Pichet Durongkaveroj, the first minister of digital economy and society, said the ministry aimed for all of its agencies to work as a single team to reduce the complexity of their operations. 
He said the ministry was committed to making sure every village in the Kingdom was served by high-speed broadband next year. To that end, it will sign memoranda of understanding with all stakeholders in the project such as TOT and the Provincial Electricity Authority next Monday.
The ministry also aims to use digital gateways to enhance connectivity with other countries in the Asean region. This will engage people, businesses and governments involved in digital content, digital services and logistics, which will add value and advantages to the country and the region.
“The digitisation of Thailand will focus on developing digital communities so that people can run their businesses online, which will create advantages for the people in communities. 
“We will work with other ministries to develop standards to create business channels in terms of business-to-business, business-to-customer and business-to-government, to create benefits for all people and communities so that they will be able to utilise digital channels to gain knowledge and transfer information.” 
Meanwhile, the ministry will partner with the Science and Technology Ministry and the Industry Ministry to create a start-up ecosystem.
Pichet said the ministry would also conduct “Thailand Digital Big Bang” events and invite executives and others from CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) and Asean+3 (the 10-member grouping plus China, Japan and South Korea) to join.
As for the controversial amendments to the Computer Crime Act, he said his ministry would review some sections before announcing the clarified draft to the public in a couple of months.
The ministry now has five screening committees to oversee the draft and will appoint four more. 
“I think that around 90 per cent of the draft is clear and 5-10 per cent is uncertain and unclear. Therefore, the ministry will set up four new screening committees to review the draft to create understanding, clarity and acceptability among the public,” Pichet said.
He reiterated that the amended act had nothing to do with the “single gateway” proposal made earlier.
 

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