Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has reportedly ordered Thai telecoms service providers to cut all internet links to Cambodia – ostensibly to combat cyberscammers, although the move also comes amid an ongoing border dispute between the governments of both countries.
According to a report in the Bangkok Post on Thursday, the NBTC has ordered all data and voice communications to be cut off within 15 days in areas near the border around the Khlong Luek crossing in the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo, opposite the Cambodian town of Poipet.
Mobile operators have also been ordered to do this without affecting the service of Thai customers living and working in those areas, with Thai operators expected to deploy mobile SIM vehicles to ensure service continuity, the report said.
Thai operators that have branches in Cambodia will have to set up separate transmission systems to keep those services running. SIM card users in Cambodia are required to supply identification and purpose of use. Operators must submit SIM card sales reports to the NBTC every 15 days, the report said.
Fourteen Thai companies offer broadband internet in Cambodia, according to the NBTC.
The NBTC said its internet cutoff order is meant to target call centre gangs that have been setting up fraud hubs just outside of Thailand’s borders, using illegal cross-border fibre cables, telecoms towers and Starlink kits to extend their operations into Thailand.
Earlier this year, the NBTC issued new directives ordering mobile operators to remove antennas from base stations within 50 metres of the border, except in community areas, where antennas must not be higher than 10 metres or must be replaced with small cells. For base stations within 1,000 meters of the border, antenna heights are limited to 15 metres, while base stations within 3,500 meters of the border are limited to antenna heights of 30 metres.
However, a border clash in late May in which one Cambodian soldier was killed has heightened tensions between Thailand and Cambodia.
Earlier this month, Cambodian PM Hun Manet ordered officials to cut internet and electricity services to Thailand.
Last week, the Thai military closed off all cargo and tourist traffic at the border in Buri Ram, Sa Kaeo, Si Sa Ket, Surin and Ubon Ratchathani provinces, making an exception for humanitarian cases.
On Sunday, the Bangkok Post reported that the Burapa Task Force, which supervises border areas with Cambodia in Sa Kaeo province, temporarily relaxed border controls to allow stranded trucks on both sides of the border return to their respective homelands.
