Thailand is planning a national broadband network that would give all of the country’s 70,000 villages low-cost internet service with a minimum speed of 30Mb/s.

The government said it will fund the nationwide plan with part of proceeds from the recent spectrum auctions that raised a record THB232.66 billion ($6.4 billion) as well as tap into the telecom regulator’s universal service obligation (USO) fund.

The ICT Ministry and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will lead the project, which will turn to the two state-owned telecoms operators – CAT Telecom and TOT – to provide last-mile wireless access in rural areas.

The government has set aside of total budget of THB38 billion ($1.05 billion), with THB20 billion ($550 million) from the auctions and THB18 billion from the USO fund, the Nation reported.

The announcement, by ICT Minister Uttama Savanyana, set the ambitious target of reaching all villages with fixed and wireless broadband in just 12 months. About 27,000 villages currently have internet access, but the plan calls for improving the quality and speed of the service in those areas.

The NBTC so far has used USO funds to finance broadband internet in about 7,000 villages, the Bangkok Post reported.

Thailand ranked 45th globally in Akamai’s ‘State of the internet’ report last year, with an average broadband speed of 7.4Mb/s. It was eighth out of 15 Asian countries. South Korea was on top globally with an average broadband speed of 23.6Mb/s.

Past record
Since the military took over in May 2014, the government has floated a number of ambitious telecoms infrastructure initiatives, including announcing plans a year ago to establish a national backbone holding company to own and operate all of the country’s fibre and tower assets. The government said the aim was to “reduce redundant investments and possibly reduce broadband fees for consumers”.

The holding company, which reportedly would have a fibre unit and a tower business, would operate all existing telecoms networks and generate revenue by renting the assets to private operators.

The government never followed up on the announcement, and industry analysts say the plan was scrapped as mobile operators worked out their own tower-sharing deals with CAT and TOT.