CAT tasked with expanding internet infrastructure

The Digital Economy and Society (DE) Ministry has disbursed Bt5 billion for the upgrade and development of Thailand’s internet infrastructure towards helping the country achieve its goal of becoming the digital hub of Asean.  Atcharin Phatthanaphanchai, permanent secretary of the ministry, said the government had assigned the project to CAT Telecom. The state telecom agency has split the Asean Digital Hub project into three phases: increase network capacity on the borders, upgrade capacity of the nationwide network and the submarine cable system, and the laying of a new international submarine cable. In the first phase, CAT expanded internet capacity by 2,300 giga bits per second (Gbps) in border areas connecting Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar with a Bt2-billion expenditure. The CAT has invested Bt1 billion in the second phase of the project and is currently performing tests on the equipment installed at 151 communication stations nationwide. The agency has also increased the capacity of the existing submarine cable network by 770Gbps, linking Thailand with Singapore, China through Hong Kong, and the United States. The upgraded infrastructure can now handle 7,512Gbps of internet traffic for the entire country, a level sufficient for the foreseeable future.