Free Wi-Fi service for all on its way to Phuket @ 2012-10-01

Free Wi-Fi is on the way for residents and visitors to Thailand with the introduction of the latest government project, ICT Free Wi-Fi for Tourism, TTR Weekly reports. The project will offer more than 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country, 323 of them in the south, including Phuket. Under the ICT project, people must register to gain access, using their ID card numbers or passport numbers in the case of tourists. After registration, users will get free access to Wi-Fi hotspots anywhere in the country for up to six months, though sessions will be limited to just 20 minutes online, with a two-hour wait before users are allowed back on again. Launched late last week, the project is a joint effort of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The latter claims the project will help the government reach its tourism revenue target of B2.2 trillion in 2015. In the first phase, ICT Free Wi-Fi for Tourism will cover 1,616 hotspots across Thailand by the end of the year, mostly in tourist destinations. Apart from the 323 in the South, 253 hotspots will be installed in tourist districts in Bangkok, 446 in the central region, 201 in the eastern region, 325 in the North and 67 in Isarn. The project will uses CAT Telecom as the service provider, offering a speed of 2 Megabits per second for downloads. Details of how the project will be applied in Phuket have yet to emerge. Chuan Sutontatspidok, CAT’s Phuket director of marketing and service, told The Phuket News that his office had sent a plan for up to 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Phuket, half in the Patong area and half in Phuket Town. But he had not heard anything back yet. “The research has been done. The next step will be the go-ahead from the ICT. I believe we can have all the Wi-Fi points working before 2015,” he said. Free Wi Fi is part of the Smart Thailand project of the ICT Ministry, which includes a target of high-speed internet for 80 per cent of people living in Thailand by 2015, and 250,000 Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the country by 2017. This is not the first project to offer free Wi-Fi access to tourists. Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has already launched Green Bangkok Wi-Fi, which offers around 20,000 hotspots. True Internet is the provider for that project. Earlier this month, Pattaya announced it will offer free Wi-Fi for tourists covering areas from Na Kluea in north Pattaya, south to Jomtien beach, with a download speed of 2 megabits per second. In the case of Pattaya, users must register first. Registration lasts three months, with a maximum of five hours’ use per month. But Phuket will have more Wifi user in 2013 .