The new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) minister has vowed to make it a priority to block Web sites insulting the monarchy.
Ranongrak Suwanchawee told senior ICT officials that most of the Web sites originated outside the country and would be blocked, as would sites considered obscene and those offering online games and gambling.
She said her predecessor in the post mistakenly believed that little could be done to control sites originating overseas.
While the new minister targets the Internet, she also must make strengthening the two state telecom enterprises a priority, said Anuparb Thiralarp, a telecoms expert.
He said the TOT Plc and CAT Telecom were seeing their revenues and value shrinking in a very competitive market.During the past four years, he said, the asset values of both agencies have declined by almost half and were still on a down trend.
He also told the new minister to speed up efforts to enact the frequency allocation law to encourage more activity in the telecom industry.
During the past four years, he said, no new players have entered the industry because the National Telecommunications Commission has not been active enough.
The frequency allocation law could encourage newcomers and enable free and fair competition, he said.
He said that previously, the law focused only on the separation of two state regulators for telecoms and broadcasting. The emphasis in the future should be the utilization of radio frequency resources, along with network management and supervision.
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