While AIS and DTAC lost subscribers and TrueMove mostly kept theirs, TOT added 90,000 active SIMs compared to last quarter (QoQ) (218,000 compared to the same period last year) to end Q3 2020 with a total of 500,422 subscribers.

Although a low number, it is interesting for several reasons. One being that TOT has not had this amount of subscribers since its monopoly days with 3G – and that was via its MVNO partners.

Secondly, the growth has occurred during the covid19pandemic, which the other operators use as a reasoning for their loss. But herein, may also be the clue, as to why TOT has managed to gain subscribers.

As part of a public push for the operators to provide some special Covid-19 relief packages earlier this year, TOT introduced a Work-from-Home (WFH), offer with real unlimited data, at 4G speed for THB 66.- ($2.18) per month.

Question is how long TOT itself can hold up. At that price, and given that they actually would have to provide retail minus pricing to their MVNOs, TOT is probably not making any profit on the offer.

THAILAND'S MOBILE MARKET KEY STATISTICS Q3 2020

[cols]

69M

Population

As of 2020

91.1M

Mobile Connections

As of Q3 2020

135%

Mobile Penetration

As of Q3 2020

3390

HHI

Lacks competition

[/cols]

‍

[cols]

฿330Bn

Mobile Service Revenue

($10 Billion) EOY 2019

฿246

Blended ARPU

($8.22)

73%

Prepaid Market Share

As of Q3 2020

18.2GB

Data Usage

per subscriber/month

[/cols]

THE PRIVATE MOBILE OPERATORS

The three private mobile operators in the market:

[cols]

AIS

(Advanced Info Service)

40.94M

Mobile Subscribers

As of Q3 2020

---COLUMN---

TRUE

(TrueMove H)

30.10M

Mobile Subscribers

As of Q3 2020

---COLUMN---

DTAC

(Total Access Communication)

18.68M

Mobile Subscribers

As of Q3 2020

[/cols]

Each has a set of subsidiaries, acting as license holders on various spectra, but branding services under their main brand:

AIS Group: AIS, AWN, AIN, ABN, DPC,
True Corporation: TrueMove , RealMove , TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC).
DTAC Group: DTAC TriNet, DTN,

None of the three are hosting MVNOs on their networks, despite their licenses stating that minimum 10% of capacity must go to MVNOs, as described in the Notification Regarding Mobile Virtual Networks Service B.E. 2556 (2013) and in the updated notification as of July 20, 2020.

THE TWO STATE-OWNED TELECOM OPERATORS

The two state owned telecom operators in Thailand: Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) Telecom, and Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT). The two operators are the only ones having MVNOs on their networks.

[cols]

CAT

(CAT Telecom Public Company Limited)

2.86M

Mobile Connections

As of Q3 2020

---COLUMN---

TOT

(TOT Public Company Limited)

500K

Mobile Connections

As of Q3 2020

[/cols]

The network coverage and wholesale pricing by the two state enterprises are heavily influenced by the three private operators, due “quasi-MVNO” and network agreements with the three.

The two, was merged on January 7, 2021, into a new state enterprise, named National Telecom Company Limited (NT)

THE MOBILE VIRTUAL NETWORK OPERATORS (MVNOs)

The two state enterprise operators had three active MVNOs on their networks as of Q3 2020

[cols]

Penguin SIM

(By Whitespace Co., Ltd.)

31.942

Active SIMs

As of Q3 2020

---COLUMN---

iKool 3G

(By Loxley Pcl.)

2.257

Active SIMs

As of Q3 2020

---COLUMN---

Feels

(By Feels Telecom Corporation)

3.968

Active SIMs

As of Q3 2020

[/cols]

The three active MVNOs in the market as of Q3 2020 are:

Penguin SIM by the company Whitespace (Host CAT Telecom and TOT)
ikool3G by the company Loxley. (Host TOT)
Feels by the company Feels Telecom (Host TOT)

In addition, NTT Communication (Thailand), is also using a MVNO license and setup to provide mobile services to some of its business clients in Thailand.

a2network (Thailand) Co., Ltd. is reselling SIMs from AIS and TRUE, bundled with its own brand “Berrymobile” to Japanese visitors and expats in Thailand.

In mid 2019 the MVNO MyWorld 3G changed its name to MYWorld but has not recorded active SIMs since June 2019.

The MVNO Penguin SIM, which started out as a MVNO on CAT Telecom, entered into an agreement with TOT to be able to provide 4G services. CAT Telecom is not able to provide MVNOs with 4G services due to contract obligations with TRUE.

The three private operators all have MVNO licenses and are setup up on the two state enterprises as “Quasi MVNOs” sharing networks and capacity.

Chart 3: MVNOs: Penguin SIM, iKool3G, MyWorld3G, Feels – SIMs with active users from Q1 2018- Q3 2020

A HIGHLY CONCENTRATED MARKET - LACKING COMPETITION

The three operators, AIS, TRUE and DTAC – enjoy complete market dominance with a combined 97% market share of the 91.1 million total mobile connections in the market. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) is 3,390 – showing a highly concentrated market lacking competition.