The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has allowed 4,700 community radio stations to resume broadcasting, in stages beginning on Thursday afternoon, after most were closed following the May 22 coup.
Thakorn Thanasith, NBTC secretary general says 4,700 radio stations can resume operation.
The decision was announced by Thakorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, following approval by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
He said 600 of the stations passed inspection of equipment and technical standards. The station operators must report to the NBTC regional office to register, after which they can immediately begin broadcasting. The stations will be listed on the NBTC website.
The operations of another 4,100 stations had also been approved, but their equipment had not been checked. They could resume broadcasts once they passed a technical inspection and their names were listed on the website.
Another 1,700 stations were in the process of test broadcasts, and the NBTC would speed up the approval process.
There were another 3,000 illegal community stations which would not be able to resume operations.
If these station operators break the law, they could face up to three years in jail and/or a three million baht fine.