| The Thai Constitution, which came into force in 1997, laid the framework for a new telecommunications and broadcast regulatory regime in Thailand. The cornerstone of the new regime is the establishment of two independent regulators, the National Telecommunications Commission, or “NTC”, and the National Broadcasting Commission, or “NBC”. NTC regulates the telecommunications industry while NBC regulates the broadcast media industry. Since the Constitution was passed, a committee was set up by the Thai Government to draft the laws in relation to telecommunications and broadcasting in Thailand in accordance with Article 40 of the Constitution.
The two main pieces of legislation that currently govern the telecommunications business are the Act on Organization For Allocating Spectrum and Radio and Television Broadcasting Supervision and Telecommunication Businesses, or the “Frequency Allocation Act”, which came into force on March 8, 2000, and the Telecommunications Business Act, which came into force on November 17, 2001. The Telecommunications Business Act and the Frequency Allocation Act are intended to play a key part in the legal reform of the Thai telecommunications market in preparation for its complete liberalization by the year 2006, in accordance with the World Trade Organization’s liberalization requirements.
Although the Telecommunications Business Act was passed in 2001, the Broadcasting Business Bill remains under consideration by the Council of State. |
