Thai regulator rejects US requests on telecom ownership and WiFi
The NBTC says full foreign ownership would breach its governing law, while reserving spectrum for WiFi would limit future auction options.
US requests to permit full American ownership of certain Thai telecom operators and designate spectrum for WiFi have repeatedly failed to win approval from Thailand’s telecom regulator. Commissioner AM Thanapant Raicharoen said the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) board had voted unanimously against the proposals on several occasions over several months.
An unnamed NBTC executive told the Bangkok Post that Washington had submitted the requests through bilateral trade channels, with the Commerce Ministry passing them to the regulator. The ownership proposal would let US-based companies hold 100% of operators licensed under the NBTC’s Type 3 category.
That category covers operators with large networks of their own and carries a legal foreign-shareholding ceiling of 49%. Board members said allowing complete foreign ownership would violate the NBTC Act and weaken national security.
The spectrum request concerns designating the upper 6GHz band for WiFi, although Thailand is still studying and testing its use. Thanapant said deciding its purpose prematurely would constrain auction flexibility. The board’s objection was that reserving the band for unlicensed WiFi would limit Thailand’s ability to auction it for commercial mobile services, including future 5G/6G deployment.
Separately, a Starlink representative had expressed interest in operating a low Earth orbit satellite business through a wholly owned Thai company. The NBTC said that structure would contravene its rules and other agencies’ foreign-business requirements. Gateway, landing right and service licences for telecom operations using foreign satellites all require a Thai company or a joint venture with Thai and foreign ownership of 51:49.
