Communications Deregulation and Democratisation in Thailand

Abstract

This article considers recent Thai communication policy debates as a case study of some of the tensions in Asian communications regulation. Thailand is now reregulating its communications after a period of boom and bust. With the new 1997 Constitution, there is an expectation that regulation should ensure more public oversight of telecoms and broadcasting, formerly the province of state agencies, the army and big business. One problem for reformers, however, is the prospect of telecom and broadcasting regulation being combined. Another issue is that, as the power of the army and the state agencies is being challenged, new private monopolies are replacing them. After locating Thai experience in its regional context, the article examines the main telecom and broadcasting policy issues in the 1990s. It argues, pace the view that communications deregulation promotes efficiency and national development, that it may reinforce social inequality in developing countries.