Thailand is in urgent need of a defining roadmap for telecommunications spectrum in preparation for the deluge of data expected to arise from Thailand 4.0.
"Thailand 4.0 calls for an unprecedented amount of data flooding the country's telecom spectrum. Only a clear spectrum roadmap can prepare the country for this revolution," said Paradai Theerathada, executive vice-president and chief of corporate affairs at DTAC.
"Spectrum is a limited resource in which data can travel. It's an asset for Thailand and Thais should be its beneficiaries."
He said that while the national telecom regulator claims to have a spectrum roadmap, compared with other countries, it is less a roadmap than a catalogue of inventory.
An effective roadmap should include timelines for available spectrum bands, the amount of megahertz and the duration of the licence. Without these, telecom spectrum in Thailand is sold in bits and pieces by a number of competing government organisations, with no long-term master plan.
As a result, Mr Paradai said operators are buying whatever comes up for sale, not necessarily what they need. The costs of this hoarding then gets passed on to consumers, who pay more than they would in a fair and transparent market.
Furthermore, without a clear roadmap, it is impossible to confidently invest in the digital infrastructure Thailand 4.0 calls for.
"As data needs grow, so does the need to continually expand and strengthen these networks. If operators are skittish about investing, the gap between infrastructure and data volume will grow wider and wider", said Mr Paradai.
According to a global survey conducted by Business Insider's intelligence unit, there will be a total of 22.5 billion Internet of Things devices in 2021 globally, up from 6.6 billion in 2016, he said.
Thailand is the second largest e-commerce market in Asean. The local mobile banking services grew by 62% last year, and the country enjoyed a healthy startup scene.
Mr Paradai said Myanmar has set a clear spectrum roadmap to 2020 and is building digital infrastructure that will be able to shoulder the massive amount of data needed for its fourth industrial revolution.
While the country is currently ranked 133rd for digital competitiveness and readiness, based on the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2016, Myanmar climbed six spots compared with the previous year.
By comparison, the data shows Thailand will have about 600MHz of spectrum available for telecommunications in 2020, up from 300MHz at present, which will only put the country on par with Myanmar.
By contrast, the regulators of some European nations plan to allocate between 1,500-1,950MHz of bandwidth in 2020.
He said it is therefore no surprise that the World Economic Forum placed Thailand 62nd in its digital readiness index out of 104 nations, a far cry from Singapore (1st) and Malaysia (31st).
Thailand ranked 48th in the business and innovation category, 51st in business usage, 57th in social impact, 64th in affordability and individual usage, 67th in infrastructure, 69th in government usage, 73rd in skills, 74th in economic impacts and 80th in political and regulatory environment.
Mr Paradai supports the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC)'s commitment to providing sufficient spectrum and maximising its use, moving ahead towards Thailand 4.0.
But he urged the NBTC to define a clear digital spectrum roadmap, which is key to unlocking Thailand's formidable digital potential.