Thailand is the latest country to announce plans to offer spectrum for private use by factories and businesses.

The country’s regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), recently said that it will release 100MHz of bandwidth in the 4800MHz band under a private network operator (PNO) license.

This system allows factories and enterprises to request the allocation at no cost for non-profit use, provided they apply it to improve internal operations. The government’s wider aim when it comes to allocating free spectrum for factories and enterprises is to accelerate the country's Thailand 4.0 ambitions. Thailand 4.0 is a campaign to promote innovation.

Factories can collaborate with equipment vendors or telecom companies to deploy solutions for 5G private network operations.

The NBTC expects the initiative to drive private 5G adoption across Thailand’s manufacturing and enterprise sectors, enabling companies to boost automation, efficiency and digital transformation.

However there are restrictions. According to the Telecom Review Asia news service, enterprises that plan to use private 5G for commercial services will need to bid for the 4800MHz band at auction. Telecom operators may participate if they intend to operate as PNOs, but licensees cannot provide consumer mobile services or integrate the band with existing 2600MHz services. The NBTC said this restriction aligns with its objective of promoting dedicated private 5G networks.

The regulator notes that mass-market 5G use in Thailand remains limited, with most subscribers relying on it for video streaming or as a supplement to 4G services. It believes private 5G networks will unlock advanced applications such as industrial IoT (IIoT), robotics, and real-time analytics.