Thai government agencies partnered with private-sector organisations to establish the Thailand 5G Alliance to promote the use of next-generation applications in driving economic growth across multiple sectors including public health, education, transportation and agriculture.

The launch was announced at Thailand 5G Summit 2022 by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha (pictured), who said the alliance is designed to aid the nation’s drive to become a digital centre for the ASEAN region.

Prime Minister Prayut explained the goal is to encourage collaboration between the public and private sectors to “commercially drive Thailand’s 5G technology development in every industry and elevate” the country’s competitive advantages.

He added the collaboration will expand technology and digital innovation and increase economic competitiveness which will promote Thailand as an investment hub.

The alliance is led by the country’s Digital Economy Promotion Agency, with representatives from AIS, True Corp, Huawei, the Office of the Digital Economy and Society Commission, the National Broadcast Telecommunications Commission, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai IoT Association and the Telecommunications Association of Thailand.

Thailand’s government tasked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to create a policy framework and action plans to promote 5G applications and manage the telecoms infrastructure which supports the technology.

Julian Gorman, head of the Asia-Pacific region for GSMA, noted the partnership is “a significant milestone for Thailand” as it is the first alliance to develop a 5G ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

GSMA Intelligence data showed operators ended March with 5.7 million 5G connections. The government auctioned 5G spectrum in February 2020, with AIS launching commercial service that month on 2.6GHz spectrum.