Thailand's government should invest in next-generation digital infrastructure for 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz wireless services to accelerate growth in the telecom industry and the economy.
Andres Vicente, head of Southeast Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson, said the government may take a balanced approach on spectrum fees, focusing more on enabling faster deployment rather than maximising spectrum charges.
Policymakers can impose very low spectrum fees or no fees, setting criteria for telecom operators on speed of deployment of infrastructure in terms of the percentage of the population covered, said Mr Vicente.
This method would secure early adoption of technology and incremental revenues coming from productivity, which would flow back to the government, he said.
For example, China and the US impose low spectrum fees which accelerates 5G adoption. In Australia, the operators can make profits from offering the service to schools in rural areas because the local governments pay for them to ensure inclusivity, said Mr Vicente.
In Malaysia, the total network infrastructure investment made by the government is below US$3 billion, and the state sells the network wholesale to the mobile operators.
"Investment in mobile network infrastructure will create an impact of seven times the investment and may gain a return on investment within three years," Mr Vicente said.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is set to auction the 850-MHz, 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz ranges by the second quarter of next year or prior to Aug 3, the latter referring to the expiry date of these three spectrum ranges being used by state enterprise National Telecom (NT).
According to Ericsson, 5G wireless broadband subscriptions in Thailand will be 45 million out of a total of 100 million mobile phone service subscriptions in 2025, before rising to 103 million out of 110 million in 2030.
The local telecom sector is set to contribute 25% to Thai GDP by 2027, with 5G a key driver.
"The upcoming frequency auctions in Thailand will be a critical catalyst for the telecom industry, unlocking new applications, boosting service revenue, and enhancing the country's competitiveness in Southeast Asia," Mr Vicente added.
He said the technology is critical to making the economy grow. Thailand's digital economy is small, or around 11% of GDP, compared with 30% in many other countries. Giving top priority to digital infrastructure development and 5G deployment can support economic growth.
Mr Vicente urged the government to make the 3.5GHz spectrum available as soon as possible as it is a mid-band spectrum that supports low latency and high bandwidth.
The 3.5GHz spectrum will allow Thai operators to enhance fixed-wireless access services, enabling new revenue streams from both consumer and enterprise markets, he said.
The potential impact on the Thai economy is estimated at $3.4 billion via 5G applications in manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics, positioning Thailand as a regional leader in digital transformation, Mr Vicente said.
The telecom industry will experience substantial data growth, with data usage per subscription per month expected to grow by 2.4 times, and overall network data traffic forecast to increase by 3.2 times from 2023 to 2030.
Mr Vicente said that more communication service providers (CSPs) are adopting the 5G SA (standalone) technology to differentiate connectivity with predictable performance to increase average revenue per user.
Moreover, CSPs have an opportunity to transform their network into a platform for innovation by making advanced 5G network capabilities available to the global developer community through open network application programming interfaces.
Mr Vicente said artificial intelligence is set to be a game-changer in telecom, enabling operators to scale operations efficiently, deliver premium customer experiences, and maintain secure, resilient networks.
He said the parade of hyperscaler data centres moving to Thailand offers an opportunity for CSPs to generate revenue by providing edge computing to those data centre operators.