Thailand's NTC targets 80% broadband coverage by 2016

Thailand’s National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has drafted the 2011-16 Universal Service Obligation (USO) plan, aiming to achieve broadband coverage for at least 80 percent of the population by 2016, up from the current 37 percent, reports The Nation. It will also offer the plan to the upcoming National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. The draft, aims by 2016 to promote equal telecommunication access to 96 percent of the population, two public phones for each village in the country and internet service at a connection speed of 256 Kbps for small villages in rural areas. It also aims to provide a broadband connection speed of 2Mbps for community schools, community medical centres and small hospitals in rural areas during the initial phase before expanding to higher speeds of up to 10Mbps. It will provide internet access for low-income, elderly and disabled people in 500 places nationwide and communication systems for the visually and hearing impaired in target areas, serving at least 100,000 people. The NTC is expected to spend a USO budget of about THB 10.83 billion over three years. Under USO regulations, NTC licence holders must contribute 4 percent of their annual revenue to a fund if they do not develop universal access in areas specified by the NTC. Then the NTC will use the fund to hire other telecommunication firms to develop universal access. However, the NTC board will discuss lowering the USO contribution by licence holders. According to the World Bank, which conducted a USO study for the NTC, the contribution should be about 1.2 percent of annual revenue.
Article via  Telecompaper