Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is planning to use the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund (BTRDF) to provide low-interest loans to mobile operators as an alternative source of funding to expedite 5G-related investment.
The regulator is also considering more flexible draft conditions for the planned auctions of several spectrum ranges, including 2600MHz, 26GHz and 28GHz. Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, said: ‘The adoption of 5G infrastructure requires huge investment and the business use cases are still immature. As the regulator, we want to ease the burdens for operators and promote infrastructure investment for the benefit of the country.’ He said the BTDRFcurrently comprised THB40 billion (USD1.28 billion).