Thaïlande : la couverture mobile

Ce que veulent dire les chiffres de Thaïlande

Deux nombres comptent et un seul est celui que tout le monde cite. Le débit habituel, 52 Mbit/s, dit à quoi ressemble un bon moment.

Le dixième centile, 14 Mbit/s, c'est celui qu'il faut lire. C'est le débit du dixième le plus mauvais de la journée, quand l'antenne au-dessus de la gare est saturée et que tout le monde autour de vous est dessus. Un pays à médiane haute et à plancher bas, c'est un pays qui marche à merveille jusqu'au moment où vous en avez vraiment besoin.

Si le voyage dépend des appels vidéo ou du partage de connexion, organise toi en fonction du chiffre en heure chargée plutôt que du débit habituel.

Ce qui se passe en Thaïlande quand le réseau est saturé

La congestion n'est pas une panne, c'est un mardi soir. La question est ce que votre eSIM peut y faire, et pour la plupart des eSIM de voyage la réponse est rien : un accord de gros par pays, un réseau, et aucune issue sauf acheter une deuxième eSIM chez quelqu'un d'autre, debout dans la rue.

Ici le trafic Orbislo passe par AIS et TrueMove. Quand le réseau où vous êtes se dégrade, nous vous basculons sur un autre, en plein voyage, sans que vous demandiez, et nous vous le disons après plutôt que de vous interrompre sur le moment.

Les opérateurs mobiles en Thaïlande

• AIS: Advanced Info Service reported 47.1 million mobile subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2026, of whom 19.7 million were 5G users, 1.2 million more than in the first quarter.
• AIS: In its 2025 results AIS said its 5G network covered more than 95 percent of Thailand's population, and it reported a 50 percent market share. New SIM activations on its network go through liveness detection backed by AI identity checks.
• True: True Corporation in its current form dates from 1 March 2023, when dtac and True completed their amalgamation under the True name. The combined company began trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 3 March 2023.
• True: True reported 48.6 million mobile subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2026 after adding 479,000 in the quarter, and 19.3 million 5G subscribers.
• NT: National Telecom, the state operator, was formed on 7 January 2021 by merging CAT Telecom and TOT. It is wholly owned by the Finance Ministry and inherited more than 25,000 towers, spectrum and undersea cables from the two companies.

Les anciens réseaux en Thaïlande

• In July 2025 the NBTC board told AIS and True to submit clear plans to wind up their 2G and 3G networks by the third quarter of 2026, with 2G expected to close first and 3G after it.
• The regulator counted fewer than 3 million SIM cards still using 2G and 3G. Its stated reason for closing them is fraud, since fake base stations exploit weaknesses in the two older systems to send scam text messages.
• Since 30 June 2025 the NBTC no longer allows the import, type approval or certification of devices that support only 2G or 3G, so a handset without 4G is being phased out of the Thai market.

La 5G en Thaïlande

• Thailand auctioned 5G spectrum in the 700 MHz, 2600 MHz and 26 GHz bands on 16 February 2020, raising around 100 billion baht. Five bidders took part: AIS through AWN, True Move H, dtac, CAT Telecom and TOT.
• AIS, through its subsidiary AWN, won 23 of the 49 licences: one in 700 MHz, ten in 2600 MHz and twelve in 26 GHz. True Move H won 17, nine of them in 2600 MHz, and none in 700 MHz.
• CAT Telecom secured both remaining 700 MHz licences, TOT took four 26 GHz licences and dtac two. The 19 licences in 2600 MHz sold for a combined 37.43 billion baht.
• A further spectrum auction on 29 June 2025 covered the 850, 1500, 2100 and 2300 MHz bands, and the NBTC board certified the results on 6 July 2025 by five votes to one with one abstention.
• AIS, through AWN, won three 2100 MHz blocks at 1965 to 1980 MHz paired with 2155 to 2170 MHz for about 14.85 billion baht. True Move H won seven 2300 MHz blocks for about 21.77 billion baht and four 1500 MHz blocks for about 4.65 billion.

Le réseau en Thaïlande : à savoir

• In October 2025 the NBTC asked its licensees to limit signal radius near the borders so that Thai signals do not leak into neighbouring countries where scammers can use them. Signal close to land borders can therefore be deliberately limited.