Consultants David Duncan and Kasma Visitkitjakarn of the Tilleke & Gibbins corporate and commercial group have coauthored the Thailand chapter of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media, and Internet Laws and Regulations 2014 (7th edition), a Q&A-style guide that covers 35 different jurisdictions. The chapter gives insight into Thailand’s changing regulatory landscape in the telecommunications and media industries. In particular, it covers:

• Telecoms. Commitments under GATS, roles of the regulatory and competition law authorities and their independence, licenses and authorizations, public and private works, access and interconnection, price and consumer regulation, and numbering and network identifying codes.
• Radio Spectrum. Regulation, procedures for authorization and allocation of spectrum between candidates, and fees and tradability of licenses.
• Cyber-security, Interception, Encryption, and Data Retention. Legal framework governing state access to private communications, rules governing encryption, and call data that must be retained by telecoms or internet infrastructure operators.
• Distribution of Audio-Visual Media. How it is regulated, distinction between linear and non-linear content distributed over different platforms, and different types of licenses for the distribution of audio-visual media and their key obligations.
• Internet Infrastructure. Regulation of conveyance services over the internet compared to other electronic communications services, how courts interpret specific provisions of the Computer Crimes Act, use of counter-infringement measures, extent of “net neutrality” requirements, and regulation of “voice over IP” services.

This article appeared in The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Telecoms, Media, and Internet Laws and Regulations 2014, published by Global Legal Group Ltd., London. www.iclg.co.uk