Poramate Minsiri, the founder of popular websites Sanook.com and Kapook.com, said the single gateway would put Thailand back where it was two decades ago, when stateowned CAT Telecom managed all international internet gateways for the country.
Mr Poramate wondered whether the concept was aimed not only at tightening government control over the internet, but also generating a new growth engine for the two telecom state enterprises, CAT Telecom and TOT, both of which have seen their business models suffer with the loss of concession revenue from the liberalisation of the mobile phone market.