A panel of some of the top Internet and telecom experts in Thailand has slammed the country’s regulatory environment, saying it has left the nation ill-prepared for the convergence of telecom, broadcasting and media.
At a roundtable over the weekend as part of the Bangkok International ICT Expo, independent ICT expert Dr Anuparp Teeralarp said that Thailand has already wasted 10 years talking about convergence without doing anything, and warned that plans for a merged broadcasting and telecoms regulator, the proposed National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), would not change fundamental problems. This was because the NBTC would be divided internally into a telecommunications arm and a broadcasting arm, similar to the past, rather than having an infrastructure division and a content division, he said.
As a result, he concluded that there are many grey areas where nobody is willing to take responsibility. “Who regulates pictures broadcast over the Internet like the Camfrog web site or clips sent between mobile phones? The NTC says it’s not my problem as it is a matter for broadcasting. Broadcasting says that it's not mine either. Can someone please tell me the name of the monkey who is responsible for regulating new media?” he asked.
Another problem he pointed to was that licences are granted that tie spectrum to a particular task. Thailand is wasting frequency and bandwidth because operational and frequency licences are tied together, Anuparp noted. “The telecom pool is an ancient, 20-year old idea.
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