Background
Given that the government has emphasized the importance of digital economy and launched the Thailand 4.0 policy,
the Village Broadband Internet or so called Net Pracharat project becomes a flagship project that comes to government’s attention.
A goal of Thailand 4.0 policy is to drive the country by innovation, knowledge, technology, and creativity.
Toward this aim, the government gives high priority on digital foundation layout related to enhancing the quality of
the digital infrastructure, which is a crucial factor to develop innovation and improve the quality of lives of people in remote areas.
This is to enable Thai people across the country to access digital technology equally.
For target area selection, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has collaborated with the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commissions (NBTC), Thailand telecommunication regulator, to expand high-speed network to all villages in Thailand.
he target areas of the Net Pracharat project is the rural areas that high speed internet service is not yet available.
MDES is responsible for 24,700 villages in the rural areas. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications
Commissions (NBTC) is responsible for 3,920 villages in border areas, and the remaining 15,732 target villages in the rural areas.
Objective and Implementation
The main objective of the Net Pracharat project is to strengthen National Broadband Network by expanding high-speed Internet network to
reach every village in the country, so that local Thai people who live in the remote areas will be able to access broadband or high-speed
Internet as those who live in the cities. In December 2017, MDES and Telephone of Thailand Public Company Limited (TOT) completed
the installation of fiber cable network to 24,700 target rural villages throughout the country. In addition to provide network,
the government equipped Thai people with Wi-Fi for community to provide free public Wi-Fi hotspots at the speed of 30/10 Mbps (Download/Upload).
As of November 2018, there are about 4.5 million users registered to access Wi-Fi Net Pracharat. Newly registered increase
around 200,000-300,000 users in every month. Figure 1 shows sample pictures of Net Pracharat Network installation (24,700 villages).
Partnership
MDES is collaborating with several agencies to implement the project as follows.
1) Telephone of Thailand Public Company Limited (TOT), a state enterprise under MDES, is responsible for the
Netpracharat project implementation. TOT completed the installation of fiber cable network to 24,700 target
villages on 19 December 2017. Each village will be provided with a Wi-Fi hotspot free of charge at the speed
of 30/10 Mbps (Download/Upload).
2) Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commissions (NBTC) is collaborating with MDES
in target area selection and helping expand high-speed network to remaining rural villages without overlapping,
resulting in efficient government budget spending.
3) Metropolitan Electricity Agency (MEA) and Provincial Electricity Agency (PEA) has provided MDES with great
collaboration in many aspects such as shortening permission processes in fiber optic installation, giving permission
to use electricity for the constructed network, and waiving several related fees.
4) Local governments gives permission to MDES/TOT to install fiber optic cables and equipment poles in local areas.
5) Central governments such as the Bureau of The Budget, the Comptroller General’s Department, and the Revenue
Department give budget for the project and provide helpful guidance on related rules and regulations.
Increase people awareness
To increase awareness and promote the use of the Net Pracharat, MDES has developed curricula on Internet fundamentals
(Basic Use of Internet), and Internet applications for career building and income supplement. As of now, MDES has provided
trainings to 1,033 officers from the Office of the Non-Formal and Informal Education (NFE). This was to create a leading group
of Net Pracharat trainers. Then, these leading trainers went back to their communities to provide trainings to around 100,000
local people in Net Pracharat village areas. In addition, in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior (MOI), the trainings
already reached 1,000,000 local people in September 2018. Figure 2 shows sample pictures of Net Prachrat trainings.
Sustainable Development
Village broadband Internet project (Net Pracharat Project) is one of Thailand national flagship projects ensuring
reliable digital infrastructure and equitable access to information and communication technology throughout the country.
As such, it promotes the effective use of ICT, facilitate lifelong learning and skills development, creating enabling environment
for digital innovations as well as boosting the investment in rural communities. which will propel the nation toward the stability,
prosperity, and sustainability. With Net Pracharat, local people can access useful information and services on many areas, such as
education, public health, and government services – leading to improvement in quality of life. It will also offer local people
opportunities to e-commerce, the use of online shops, in order to generate employment and income in local communities. With these
results achieved, Net Pracharat is a driving force that propel country toward a path of long-term stability, prosperity,
and sustainability.
With Net Pracharat, local people (such as local businesses, SMEs, farmers, and students) who live in the target
villages will be the primary beneficiaries of this project. Also, the country as a whole will gain benefits from Net Pracharat.
The following are some examples of Net Pracharat benefits.
Benefits for local people
• The Net Pracharat project helps reduce inequalities of broadband Internet access. With high-speed Internet network installed,
local people who live in remote areas will be able to access useful content and services via Internet as those in cities.
• With access to Internet, local people will have opportunities to access useful content and services as follows.
> Education – students can search for information that can help their studies, for example, animation that explains chemistry,
rules of physics, mathematic calculation and others. Also, they can learn additional topics of their interests through online courses
from both domestic and abroad. Teachers can find new information that help improve their teaching knowledge. They can make use of
teaching materials available on Internet to help students better understand content in class. In addition, students and teachers can
learn and practice English with a number of free online Web sites. For local people, they can access lifelong learning education that
can help them improve their knowledge and skills on several topics, such as household accounting, organic farming, and automobile
maintenance. This will give them opportunities for employment and more income generation.
> Public Health services – local people can access health information online. They will be able to access tele-medicine service,
such as teleconsultation – consulting between hospitals or patients consulting physicians through video conference. In addition,
hospitals will be able to exchange patient’s electronic health records, without needs for patients to carry their own records to the
hospitals to get service.
> E-Government service – local people can access online government services. For example, they can use their identification
number to check their health care coverage, pay water and electric bills online, and do tax e-filing.
> E-Commerce – With access to Internet, local people will have more opportunities to use e-commerce to market and sell their
local products, resulting in more income generation. With e-commerce, local people can overcome geographical reach constraints.
They will be no longer limited to selling to immediate local market, but expand their markets to both domestic and global stages.
Currently, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) is working with Thailand Post to implement the e-Commerce for local
communities project. The aim is to facilitate villagers to start e-commerce businesses. The project will develop a Point of Sale (POS)
system, an e-Commerce platform that offers a full range of e-Commerce tools and activities, such as e-marketplace, e-payment,
and logistic services. This is to support local people to sell their local products online.
Open Access Network
To make use of the fiber optic cable network constructed in the project (Net Pracharat Network) at its full potential,
MDES follows the Open Access Network (OAN) model by allowing any telecommunications (or Internet) service providers who
obtain licenses from NBTC to connect and use the Net Pracharat network without fees to provide last mile Internet service to
customers with fair and affordable price for local people. This is to promote infrastructure sharing that helps reducing
infrastructure investment cost in rural areas. Furthermore, the government will use Universal Service Obligation (USO) funds
to support maintenance of Net Pracharat network for 5 years to sustain the Net Pracharat project. This will foster the growth
of broadband Internet access market in the areas until they turn to be commercial zone that can be self-sustaining without
government support in the future.
Conclusion
In summary, the Net Pracharat project provides the sustainable and resilient digital infrastructure in Thailand.
With Net Pracharat, all Thais will have equitable and affordable access to several useful online information and services
such as education, healthcare, e-commerce, and government services, thereby leading the country toward the path of long-term stability,
prosperity, and sustainability.