New ICT Project to Boost Thailand’s Tourism Income

(28/09/2012)

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to carry out jointly the “ICT Free Wi-Fi for Tourism” project. Under the project, more than 1,600 free Wi-Fi routers will be installed at major tourism spots across Thailand to offer high-speed internet service for tourists. Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Group Captain Anudith Nakornthap, revealed that TOT Public Company and CAT Telecom Public Company had been assigned to provide the free wireless Internet service around the country. Out of the 1,615 target tourism spots, 253 free Wi-Fi routers will be set up in Bangkok, 446 will be installed in the central region, 201 in the East, 323 in the South, 325 in the North, and 67 in the Northeast. The installation of the routers will be completed by the end of 2012. According to Group Captain Anudith, this project is in response to the Government’s tourism promotion policy, aimed at attracting more tourist arrivals and spurring the country’s economic growth. The Government is striving to achieve its tourism revenue target of two trillion baht by 2015. Another objective is to enhance Thailand’s competitiveness through ICT access under the “Smart Thailand” campaign. Smart Thailand aims to develop Thailand into a society that uses ICT in a smart manner, in line with the National ICT Master Plan, which states that people at all levels should be smart and information-technology literate, which will benefit themselves and society as a whole. The free public Wi-Fi service also forms part of the Smart Thailand campaign. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology has set a target to provide free wireless Internet service at about 30,000 areas nationwide. It is also installing access point equipment at 150,000 areas around the country, and the installation will be completed by the end of 2012. The Government launched the free Wi-Fi campaign in December 2011 in order to provide around 7.5 million students, tourists, the underprivileged, and the general public, both in rural and urban areas, with internet access in public places and educational institutions free of charge.