Back in January 2015 the Thailand government established a Venture Capital fund – better referred to as Digital for Economy and Society Fund, to support the creation of innovations driving the creation of a ‘digital economy’. Many government committees will oversee the efficient expenditure of this fund including the Digital Economy Fund Committee, Digital Economy Committee, the National Economic and Social Development Board, and the Office of the Auditor General. The government also approved a bill related to the Digital Economy Fund and money from this fund can now be granted or lent to state or private agencies to invest in developing the digital economy. Underground Pipe Example

Most recently TOT Plc and CAT Telecom have proposed an underground piping plan for telecommunications, broadcasting, and power wires. The 10 billion baht needed to complete this much-needed task will come from the Digital Economy Fund. This program involves grouping all existing overhead power, telecoms and broadcast cables into a single platform underground. This will eventually allow Telecoms and broadcasting companies to expand their network coverage and will help make Bangkok city look much better. Telecoms and Broadcast companies in Thailand could pay the government monthly rental fees and in exchange get to move the existing overground wires and cables underground and within the unified pipe platform allocated for their use.

Managing the implementation of such a large infrastructure program involves coordination among many government agencies and organizations. The program involves extensive analysis, planning and design of the underground piping platform and then selecting experienced sub-contractors to help execute the plan. Such tasks require certified project management experts and consultants to ensure a detailed plan covering all risk aspects are taken into consideration and to execute such plan per stakeholder expectations (TOT Plc, CAT Telecomm, government agencies, and others).

Overseeing the initiation, analysis and planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing of a such large scale program (requiring a 10 billion baht investment) calls for Certified Project Managers needed for the Thai Telecom Infrastructure.