US calls for access to telecom market

NBTC disagrees with American demands

- KOMSAN TORTERMVASANA

Management of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) disagrees in principle with a US demand that Thailand should fully open up the local telecom market to foreigners, especially satellite services, as part of recent tariff negotiations.

Thailand’s type-3 telecom licence is closed to maintain the country’s national security, according to a source at the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry who requested anonymity.

The type-3 licence is for operators providing telecom services to a large number of consumers via their own networks. Competition from foreign players is expected to widely affect the public market, noted the source.

Laws limit foreign shareholding for this licence type to a maximum of 49%.

In addition, the source said the US asked Thailand to define the WiFi frequency standard here as the upper band of 6 gigahertz, or between 5700 megahertz and 7100MHz.

The US operates its WiFi system on some bands, including the 6GHz band.