Looking Forward
Following the 2011 Thai general election victory of the Pheu Thai Party, the new Minister, Group Captain Anudith Nakornthap, voiced readiness to push forward the ICT policy of his party. Prime Minister (and former president of Advanced Info Service) Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra envisions building internet data centres nationwide to accommodate emerging smart card technology. IDCs could help citizens with smart ID cards to access different state agencies. The smart ID card was a project of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin.
The party campaigned on a pledge of free public WiFi and One Tablet per Child. Thai Internet technology companies hope the project will promote Thailand as a tablet manufacturing base exporting to Asean, and that the new ICT Minister will push for broadband internet prices of 300 baht (11 USD) per month, half the current rate, to increase accessibility and support the local ICT industry at large. Somkiat Ungaree, honorary president of the Association of the Thai Software Industry (ATSI), applauded the government's school tablet project in expectation of benefit to local software development.
The new ICT Minister also went record to declare (in translation)
...from now on, the ministry’s officials and staff members of every level have been urged to be more stringent in the pursuing of violations against the Computer Crime Acts and lèse majesté on websites, by enforcing the law to the fullest.Read more about this topic: Ministry Of Information And Communication Technology (Thailand)