Thailand: Growing debates about tax benefits for Internet infrastructure companies

The Thai private telecom sector has urged the government to implement proposed tax benefits for companies investing in submarine cable infrastructure for the Internet, after the Thai government retracted the proposal. The Thai private sector fears that, ‘without the tax incentives, CAT Telecom [Thailand’s state-owned telecom infrastructure company] will continue to monopolise the local submarine cable market.’ Not only would the tax relief boost cable investment, it could also promote Thailand ‘as ASEAN’s digital gateway.’