The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Highways to jointly inspect and suppress the illegal laying of cross-border cable networks utilised by cybercriminals.
The inspections are to focus on the illegal laying of cable networks that provide international telecom service, covering areas around 17 cross-border bridges nationwide.
The move represents another effort by Thailand's state agencies to crack down on illegal telecom and internet links near border areas that support rampant technology-related crime.
Trairat Viriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of the NBTC, said the regulator's officials, together with police officers in Nong Khai and from Technology Crime Investigation Division 3, recently inspected an illegal cable installation at the first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge.
He said late last year the NBTC office and related authorities inspected the area close to the bridge and found the illegal installation of cables linked to Laos.
The regulator has since returned to carry out another inspection at the same site.
The NBTC and the joint operation team also requested telecom licence holders to add tags to their cross-border cable networks to clearly identify their ownership of said networks.
During a second inspection of the area around the first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, the team found wireless antenna equipment, or a wireless link dish, at one hotel facing Laos. This hotel is located 1.24 kilometres away from the border.
The team also found a similar dish at a commercial building located 7.75km from the border.
Another dish was found at a commercial building located 936 metres from the border. This dish had the capability of transmitting an internet signal over a distance of up to 30km.
Mr Trairat said if such a dish were installed near the border, it would be logical to suspect it of being used to transmit internet signals across the border, allowing the signal to be used for cybercrime or tech-related crime.
If found guilty, defendants face a maximum fine of 100,000 baht or a prison term of up to five years, or both, under the Radio Communications Act of 1955.
He said Nong Khai province was the fifth area the joint team visited during its inspections this month of radio stations and telecom services along the country's borders nationwide.
