New Luxury tax on internet usage in Thailand
All internet accounts to be taxed with 970 Baht/month.
Hardware dongle required for internet use.
BANGKOK: — The government has announced heavy investment to upgrade Thailand’s international bandwidth, but has introduced an internet tax to help fund investment, and control usage.
The internet tax will be based on bandwidth and would be applied on a graduated scale according to the speed of a users internet connection. The internet luxury tax will be 970 Baht/month for most users.
Foreigners without a work permit and retirees will be required to pay the monthly tax at a higher rate, 1,490 Baht/month.
Sombat Merou-Ruang, director of the Alien Internet Control Division at CAT headquarters in Bangkok says “foreigners that do not have work in Thailand only hang out on internet forums, visit pornographic sites and other website lamock, different from Thai citizens who mostly use the internet for banking, ecommerce, and furthering their education”…
In addition to the bandwidth tax, an extra usage tax of 490 Baht will be levied on those using Bittorrents and surfing foreign language internet forums …
… Without the dongle, users will be disconnected after 6 minutes of use and unable to access the internet from 23.30pm tonight.
… Malee Thorlee, manager of the Excite Internet shop on Sukhumvit says that she will now have to limit foreigners using the internet in the shop to one at a time, to keep costs down.
… The head of CS-Loxinfo Department of Internet, Dr. Boonlert Chaamaak says this is a blow to internet users in Thailand, who already enjoy fast internet speeds and almost no down time.
… has pledged to use the extra funds allocated to them to improve satellite internet communications. Dr. Rinrada Maimeepompem, head of IPstar Internet Speeds Division, has announced plans to move the IPstar satellite closer to earth from next month, which should improve speeds greatly due to less distance for the signal to travel.
… TOT sources have said that executives are overjoyed at the prospect of government investment, adding that now they would be able to buy a new fleet of vans for their technicians, which is important if they wish to improve internet speeds and quality.
… Foreigners applying to the Internet tax need to provide a valid passport with Non-Immigrant Visa, health certificate and 6 colour photos 4×2 cm, plus a verified copy of their house registration (Tabien Baan) or lease agreement.
… CAT will close all unregistered internet accounts before midnight today.
Kinda makes blogging at DWB an expensive hobby …
Technorati Tags: april fools, design, internet
<< -- Please report dead blogs via the contact form -- >>
This was one of the best ever April Fools I’ve watched from a distance.
People are still coming into the forum all flustered.
Some are sputtering their objections, saying they’ve had it with Thailand. Others are offering to drive them to the airport :-)
It was way great. And I’m still watching. Reading. Chuckling.
Haha, I read this article in my feed reader, then came over to ask if it was an April Fool’s Day prank.
Well, if you live in Thailand, it’s plausible compared to some of what goes on here. Only, it was the glaring mistakes that got my attention. Finally. At first I was spitting fire and brimstone!
When I did think about an April Fools joke, I still had to think a bit more as there has been so much going on since and before the coup that fits this scenario.
Amazing Thailand. It really is. I love this country, even with all its warts :-)
thanks goodness that it is a prank!!! Don’t give the authorities in Thailand any ideas now…because before you know it, this internet tax may be implemented–no matter how absurb it may be (for a sec, i even believed the foreinger internet tax requirements!)
speaking of thailand…specifically bangkok, can anyone point me to a design or artist organization? is there one?
I will be in bangkok for 4 months over the summer…need to find other artist/designer to hang out with.
Thanks,
Adrienne
If you are looking to slot into the available designers in the area, there are several sure bets.
TCDC (Thailand Creative & Design Center) is a government sponsored.
There is one Thai design org, THAIDA. They don’t have a web site that I’ve been able to locate, but you can find out more by contacting the Raffles Design Institute, Bangkok.
Raffles is another place to find young designers to hang with. They are from all nationalities, as are the instructors.
Good luck.