The cabinet yesterday approved national broadband infrastructure development worth 20 billion baht that will provide affordable internet access to 79,000 villages nationwide.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the investment would focus on two projects: broadband internet and the international internet gateway.
The national broadband network is part of the government's policy of supporting the country's hard infrastructure development.
Uttama: March launch for internet project
The broadband internet project will cost 15 billion baht, while the international internet gateway will make up the remaining 5 billion.
Affordable high-speed internet service will be implemented in fiscal 2016.
Internet service now covers 53% of Thailand's 79,000 villages.
The government's investment is aimed at extending service to cover 93% of villages this fiscal year, with the rest following later.
The two state telecoms -- TOT Plc and CAT Telecom -- will handle development of the broadband network in rural areas for this project.
Col Sansern said the international internet gateway will be implemented in fiscal 2017.
The investment will help to cut internet costs and raise internet speeds in the country.
Budget Bureau director-general Somsak Chotrattanasiri said the 15 billion baht to finance high-speed internet would be available from the extra budget for fiscal 2016.
He said the cabinet yesterday approved an extra budget for fiscal 2016 amounting to 56 billion baht.
It comes from government revenue earned from the state auctions of licences for fourth-generation wireless broadband service.
Information and Communication Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana said his ministry planned to launch the high-speed internet project in March and complete it in 2017.
In a separate development, the government on Monday gave the nod to the second phase of the plan for special economic zones (SEZs) in Nakhon Phanom, Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi and Narathiwat provinces covering 14,000 rai of land.
Poramatee Vimolsiri, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, said approval was granted at a meeting of the Special Economic Zone Committee chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The committee also acknowledged investment applications submitted to the Board of Investment by private companies worth 400 million baht in the first phase of SEZ development.
The investments are mainly for apparel and auto parts. There are also more applications with unspecified values for investment projects located outside the industrial estates such as hotels, wholesale and retail outlets and warehouses.
Six provinces have been designated for the first phase of SEZs: Tak, Mukdahan, Songkhla, Sa Kaeo, Nong Khai and Trat.