The chairman of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, has outlined a plan to create more MVNOs in the country.

The plan, which includes a scheme entitled One Region, One Mobile Virtual Network Operator, aims to create four more MVNOs by 2026, in addition to the country’s three existing mobile phone operators.

The regulator also plans to bring in free access to state digital services nationwide by 2026. This means all Thais will be able to use basic state services without internet charges on their mobile tariffs. This will be implemented in collaboration with mobile phone operators, according to the NBTC chairman.

The NBTC office will start implementing both the One Region, One MVNO scheme and free government digital services policies this year.

Will market demand sustain these new entrants against True Corporation, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and National Telecom (NT)? The Bangkok Post points out that the combined subscribers of AIS and True Corp represent more than 96% of total subscribers in the market.

It is also not clear that major operators will want to rent their network capacity to MVNOs at a low fee. However, the NBTC’s proposed regulations imply they may have little choice. That said, major mobile operators can hold a share of the regional MVNOs – but no more than 25%.

As for opportunities, MVNOs may have trouble competing with larger rivals in the mass market but there could be business opportunities in the 5G private network market.

All of this remains to be seen, however. So far The WhiteSpace, the owner of the Penguin SIM brand, is the only MVNO in Thailand. The Bangkok Post suggests its subscriber base is a little over 40,000 in a country of nearly 70 million people.