Modern telecommunications in Thailand began in 1875 with the deployment of the first telegraph service. Historically, the development of telecommunication networks in Thailand were in the hands of the public sector. Government organisations were established to provide telegraph, telephone, radio, and television services, and other government agencies, especially the military, still control a large estate of radio and television spectra. Private telecommunication operators initially acquired concession agreements with state enterprises. For mobile phone services, all the concessions have been amended by successive government to last 25 years have gradually ended in 2015. For other services, the concession terms and conditions vary, ranging from one to fifteen years. Nearly all of the concessions are build-operate-transfer (BTO) contracts. The private investor has to build all the required facilities and transfer them to the state before they can operate or offer services to public.
Telenor ASA is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, but focused in Scandinavia and Asia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic countries, and a 10-year-old research and business line for machine-to-machine technology. Telenor owns networks in 8 countries.
T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic, Poland and the United States.
Vodafone Libertel B.V. is the second largest mobile phone company in the Netherlands, and was previously called Libertel. It is part of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Ziggo and Vodafone Group.
The Charoen Pokphand Group Company, Ltd. (CP) is a Thai conglomerate based in Bangkok. It is Thailand's largest private company and the largest privately held Royal Warrant holder of the Thai Royal Family. The company describes itself as having eight business lines covering 13 business groups. As of 2020, the group has investments in 21 countries.
Base is the third largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications operators. It is a subsidiary of Telenet. It competes with Proximus and Orange Belgium. It was previously owned by KPN and sold to Telenet in 2015.
Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced services throughout India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world. Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.
TOT Public Company Limited is a Thai state-owned telecommunications company. Originally established in 1954 and corporatized in 2002, TOT used to be known as the Telephone Organization of Thailand and TOT Corporation Public Company Limited. TOT's main line of business is fixed line telephony, although it has several other businesses, including mobile telephony. Since 2021, TOT PCL become National Telecom Public Company Limited after merger with CAT Telecom.
CAT Telecom Public Company Limited So, then as known as CAT Telecom Plc.
Hutchison Asia Telecom Group or HAT, is a division of Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings. The division provides telecommunications services to several Asian countries. The division was formerly incorporated as Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited, known as Hutchison Telecom or HTIL in short. It was an offshore company in the Cayman Islands and a listed company in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. It operates GSM, 3G and 4G mobile telecommunications services in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam under brands 3, Hutch and Vietnamobile.
Thailand's telephone numbering plan in Thailand is managed by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) in accordance with International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) recommendation E.164.
True Corporation Public Company Limited is a communications conglomerate in Thailand. It is a joint venture between Charoen Pokphand Group and Telenor, formed by the merger between the original True Corporation and DTAC in the form of equal partnership to create a new telecommunications company that can fully meet the needs of the digital age. True controls Thailand's largest cable TV provider, TrueVisions, Thailand's largest internet service provider True Online, Thailand's largest mobile operators, TrueMove H and DTAC TriNet, which is second and third only to AIS. and entertainment media including television, internet, online games, and mobile phones under the True Digital brand. As of August 2014, True, along with True Telecommunications Growth Infrastructure Fund, had a combined market capitalization of US$10 billion. TrueMove is also a partner of Vodafone Group. Charoen Pokphand Group and Telenor hold equal ownership of 30% of True's shares as of March 2023. It operates fixed-line, wireless, cable TV, IPTV and broadband services.
Total Access Communication Public Company Limited is a GSM mobile phone company in Thailand. It is the nation's third largest GSM phone company, after AIS and True. DTAC is owned by Norwegian company Telenor both directly and indirectly, and both companies share the same logo. As of 31 December 2011, DTAC had 23.2 million subscribers with a market share of subscribers at around 30 percent. As of 2019, the company has 20.642 million mobile subscriptions and 3904 employees. It is listed on the Singapore Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Free Mobile S.A.S. is a French telecommunications company, subsidiary of Free S.A.S. that provides wireless Internet to consumers in France. It was the fourth mobile network operator to obtain a metropolitan French 3G license in 2009. It also obtained a 4G license in 2011.
Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, d.b.a. Hutch is a Sri Lankan telecommunication service provider and the country's third largest mobile network operator, with approximately 3.6 million subscribers of the Sri Lankan mobile market as of June 2023.
Suphachai Chearavanont is a Thai businessman, and CEO of C.P. Group, a multinational conglomerate owned by his father. Also chairman of telecommunications company True Corporation, of which he was the CEO from 1999, until 2017, when he was named C.P. Group's CEO. Also a vice chairman at Charoen Pokphand Foods and CP ALL, he is a director at companies including TrueMove and TrueVisions. Also, he is a chairman of CP Axtra, Retail e-commerce and wholesale business.
Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), doing business as Jazz, (Urdu: جاز) is Pakistan's largest mobile network and internet services provider formed by the merger of Mobilink and Warid Pakistan.
Idea Cellular was an Indian telecommunications company based at Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was an integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018.
Line Mobile - Finn Mobile is a division by Line Corporation operates mobile virtual network operator service in Japan and Taiwan, while in Thailand it operates as a light MVNO service provider under TrueMove H. Unlike LINE's other service LINE Out, Finn Mobile offers SIM card plans.
A corporate merger between True Corporation and DTAC, Thailand's second- and third–largest mobile network operators, has been in progress since its first public announcement on 22 November 2021. The deal, which would make the combined entity the largest mobile network ahead of current market leader AIS and reduce the mobile provider market to a duopoly, has been strongly opposed by academics and civil society groups as detrimental to consumers and the public interest. The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) acknowledged the merger with certain conditions on 20 October 2022, though there had been some legal uncertainty over whether the NBTC had authority to approve such a merger and whether the Trade Competition Commission should be involved. Petitions challenging the decision were made to the Administrative Court in November, by the Thailand Consumers Council and AIS.
