Thai telcos have stepped in to save the government’s flagging national AI plan. The three operators – AIS, True and NT – have all committed to offering low-price data packages to support the TH-AI Passport scheme.
Launched a month ago, the 1.6 billion Thai baht (US$48 million) scheme attracted 1.5 million sign-ups in the first three weeks, but take-up has leveled out because of concerns over the data cost. AIS was the first to come forward, offering a monthly AI data plan at 29 Thai baht ($0.87). For that modest sum, users would be able to consume unlimited data inside the AiPASS app.
AIS says it can support 5 million users for a year, equivalent to the maximum capacity of the AI-Passport scheme. True has proposed a similar price bundle. The third telco, NT, is yet to finalize its pricing but said it would begin selling the service from October 1.
Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaichanok Chidchob said the government had begun working with the operators after it had identified cost as a barrier to take-up of the new service, The Nation reported.
Data usage rises quickly
He said many students wanted to use the AI app, but were worried about higher data bills. When they use AI, “data usage rises quickly and consumes quite a lot of bandwidth,” he was quoted as saying.
True and AIS, both listed companies, dominate the Thai mobile market with around 96 million subs between them. State-owned NT has about 1.5 million customers, mostly outside the capital Bangkok, with around 90% on prepaid plans.
The AI-Passport plan offers access to around 30 AI models from 14 companies, mostly from the US and China.
It is not the only Asian initiative aimed at expanding access to AI. South Korea last month kicked off a more ambitious AI program, subsidized by the national government. It has designated the two big telcos, SK Telecom and KT, along with messaging firm Kakao, to each lead a consortium to start providing services by year-end, Korea Times reports.
The KT consortium plans an agentic AI service that can integrate with public services, finance and shopping services, while the SK Telecom group will offer phone- and text-based agents that can carry out authentication, fill out public service forms and make payments.
The Korean government has allocated 250 billion Korean won ($181 million) to the scheme.
