'NTC must follow government plans' - TDRI

The government will be unable to execute its ICT policy if it does not make changes to existing IT-related organisations, especially the National Telecommunications Commission, Thailand Development Research Institute vice-president Somkiat Tangkitvanich said at the weekend.

He told the Information and Technology Press Club that the government would be able to efficiently execute its ICT policy if it made adjustments to the draft Frequency Allocation Act requiring the National telecommunications Commission (NTC)'s regulations to follow government ICT policy.

Additionally, the law should provide for the NTC's members to be relieved of their duties of they are unable to deliver these plans.

"The government's ICT policy to establish a telecommunications network throughout the country so people can have a better and equal chance to access the national telecommunication infrastructure cannot become a reality as long as the key player in this execution area - the NTC - is not involved by regulation or by law," Somkiat said.

The solution is to change the draft Frequency Allocation Act to define the job description and responsibilities of the NTC to go along with government ICT policy, he said. This will give Thailand the unity to drive and execute national ICT policy effectively without the need to establish national government bodies to oversee everything related to 'IT' and 'C'.

"At the present, there is no central government body to oversee the whole of 'ICT'. We have the NITC (National IT Committee) - the government body to oversee national IT policy - and the NTC - the body to oversee telecommunications or 'C' policy - but both of them are independent," Somkiat said.

Moreover, he suggested that the government should restructure key organisations under the Information and Communications Technology Ministry, included TOT and CAT Telecom, to make them more compatible and to prevent them suffering the same financial losses as those faced by Thai Airways International.

"TOT, CAT Telecom and the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) are three organisations under the ministry that are key players in the execution of the government's ICT policy. They should be revised in order to get professional people working on their boards," he said.

The Association of Thai ICT Industry (ATCI) also called for changes to national ICT policy.

ATCI president Bunrak Saraggananda said his association had made six proposals to the ICT Ministry in the hope of changing government policy to help generate domestic demand for local ICT products, especially local software.

The first three are for the introduction of tax incentives for enterprises investing in local software, the setting up of an ICT Development Fund and tax incentives for individuals buying ICT products, especially personal computers or notebooks.

Bunrak said the proposed tax incentives for enterprises would allow companies who purchased local software to use 100 per cent of the total investment to reduce tax within one year. Similarly, individuals buying PCs and notebooks should to be able to use 100 per cent of the price of those products to reduce their tax within one year.

These measures would help to increase Thailand's computer penetration rate, he said.

The third proposal is for an ICT Development Fund to collect payments from local software companies who are favoured by the tax incentives. If they sell locally developed software to enterprises under the tax incentives they should pay 3 to 5 per cent of total project value to the ICT Development Fund.

The association's other three proposals seek the establishment of an ICT Human Resources Development Fund and an ICT Certification Programme, and promotion of the benefits to local enterprises of using ICT technologies, rather than simply suggesting that they invest in them.

"In setting up an ICT Human Resources Development Fund, money will come from three sources: from the enterprises who are willing to allow their staff to be trained, from the trainees themselves and from the government. This will address the problem of the shortage of high-quality skilled ICT workers and help increase the competitiveness of Thailand's ICT industries," Bunrak said.

The association wants the government to support the cost of its proposed ICT Certification Programme because training for certification will cost about Bt20,000 per person. It has proposed support for 1,000 trainees in an initial period.