BANGKOK, 9 May 2012 – The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has commented that the Thai communication business has not been fully liberalized, making the costs of the call as well as the phone too expensive.
With three mobile phone operators, AIS, DTAC, and True Move, monopolizing the market, TDRI Research Director Deunden Nikomborirak said that given Thai mobile communication business is not fully liberalized, calling prices for both mobile phones and landlines are about four times as high as those in other countries.
Besides the phone price being very expensive, the connection is also slow and the 3G service is still not fully functional. The phone service operations in other countries are more competitive; as a consequence, they provide higher quality service at lower price.
Concerning the national security when the communication service is liberalized, Ms Deunden said information theft could happen even if the thief is not a shareholder of any communication company; therefore, security issue should not be considered a drawback for communication liberalization.
