24,700 Thai villages now have free high-speed Internet
In recent years, the Thai government has realized how important access to the Internet is to Thais who live outside the major cities. After all, so many things are done online nowadays, and so many educational opportunities can be found online.
These are just two of the reasons why the Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society recently instituted a project to install free high-speed Internet in 24,700 Thai villages around the country.
According to Thai PBS, who reported the story yesterday, these villages are in every region of Thailand — 13,468 villages are in the Northeast, 4,416 villages are in the North, 3,097 villages in the South, 2,084 in the central region, 1,554 villages in the East and 81 villages in Bangkok and its surrounding area.
This means several million more Thais, many who are poor and unable to afford monthly Internet fees themselves, will now have Internet access.
The Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has not stopped there, however, as it is also making sure Thais are trained in how best to use the Internet to their advantage.
With this in mind, they are planning on eventually training over 100,000 people so they can in turn train other Thais on how to use the Internet. Training has already begun.
The high-speed Internet is being provided by TOT Public Company and, as someone who used TOT’s Internet for many years and has now spent some time back in Europe in 2017, I can report first hand how good their Internet service is compared to that in several European countries I have recently visited.
Yes, in some cases and surprising to some, Thailand’s Internet service beats Europe’s hands down.
The Ministry is also not forgetting Thai schools and public hospitals either, as free high-speed Internet is planned to be installed in many around Thailand in the coming months.
