Village broadband Internet project set for approval

If approved by the Cabinet, the ministry will transfer the Bt15-billion budget to TOT. 
TOT president Montchai Noosong said yesterday that TOT was already drafting the technical specifications for the project’s equipment. 
A TOT source said the budget would be divided into three parts – Bt9 billion for the installation of wireless and fixed0line access points in the 24,700 villages, Bt3 billion for three years of network maintenance and Bt3 billion for the installation of free Wi-Fi in the villages.
According to its original plan, TOT will install only the wireline network in the villages as specified by the ministry. 
Wirelines will still be the main network. The wireless service will run on TOT’s 2.3-gigahertz spectrum.
All network assets from the project would belong to the ministry, Montchai said.
The ministry opened bidding for the project midyear but aborted it last month, citing that TOT, the only bidder, had failed to provide sufficient technical details. 
However, last week the ministry decided to mandate TOT for the project.