What To Know
- Thailand’s largest mobile network operator AIS is accelerating its 5G Advanced strategy with a major expansion of three-carrier aggregation, bringing together its 2600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 2100 MHz spectrum to create a network designed for the rapidly emerging AI economy.
- He compared AI to a brain and communications infrastructure to the nervous system connecting that intelligence with the wider world.
Thailand’s largest mobile network operator AIS is accelerating its 5G Advanced strategy with a major expansion of three-carrier aggregation, bringing together its 2600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 2100 MHz spectrum to create a network designed for the rapidly emerging AI economy. The company is targeting comprehensive 3CC coverage across Bangkok by 2026 as it seeks to strengthen Thailand’s credentials as an ASEAN AI connectivity hub.
Image Credit: Thailand AI News
The expansion reflects a fundamental change in how mobile networks are being used. Consumers are no longer simply downloading videos, websites, and applications; increasingly, they are uploading images, video, voice, prompts, and other information for cloud and AI processing. In that changing environment, this Thailand AI News report highlights how network upload capacity is becoming almost as strategically important as traditional download performance. AIS believes that strengthening both sides of the connection will be essential as AI moves deeper into everyday digital services.
A Three-Band Network Built for AI
AIS currently operates standalone 5G using 2600 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 700 MHz spectrum across all 77 Thai provinces and 928 districts. Its existing 5G Advanced 2CC network combines either 2600 MHz with 700 MHz or 2600 MHz with 2100 MHz and has been deployed across Bangkok, surrounding areas, and principal districts nationwide.
The next stage is 3CC, or three-component-carrier aggregation. By simultaneously using 2600 MHz, 700 MHz, and 2100 MHz, AIS can exploit the different characteristics of each spectrum band.
Lower-frequency 700 MHz spectrum provides wider geographical reach, while 2600 MHz offers substantial capacity but faces greater challenges penetrating buildings. The 2100 MHz band can help strengthen indoor performance. Combining all three is intended to provide a better balance of coverage, capacity, and speed.
AIS says its 5G Advanced technology can deliver approximately twice the upload speed and around 1.5 times the download speed compared with previous configurations. The operator also describes itself as Southeast Asia’s first commercial 5G Advanced provider.
Bangkok Becomes the Testing Ground
According to AIS, Bangkok has already become the first capital city globally where its 5G Advanced Uplink 2CC service, using 2600 MHz and 700 MHz, provides 100% coverage. The technology has also reached main districts across Thailand’s 77 provinces.
AIS has now begun deploying 3CC downlink technology in selected Bangkok locations, with broader expansion planned. Deployment elsewhere will depend on factors including local traffic demand and infrastructure readiness.
Kitti Ngamjetanarom, Chief Technology Officer at AIS, said digital infrastructure has evolved beyond basic communications to become fundamental to economic activity and everyday life. Work, education, financial transactions, shopping, entertainment, and content creation increasingly depend on reliable connectivity, while AI is adding another layer of demand.
He compared AI to a brain and communications infrastructure to the nervous system connecting that intelligence with the wider world. Without sufficiently capable networks moving information between devices, data centers, applications, and AI systems, sophisticated models cannot deliver their full practical value.
AI Is Triggering an Upload Revolution
AIS network statistics illustrate how dramatically traffic patterns are changing. Between 2022 and 2025, the company recorded more than tenfold growth in 5G download traffic. Upload traffic, however, surged by more than 25 times.
Downloads still represent the larger share of total network traffic, but the growth gap is narrowing. AIS says that from January 2025 onward, uplink and downlink growth rates have become nearly equal.
Generative AI is contributing to that shift because many applications require users to transmit information before receiving an answer. A smartphone might upload photographs for analysis, send spoken instructions to an AI assistant, transmit video for processing, or continuously exchange information with an intelligent service.
The implications extend well beyond smartphones. Robots moving beyond controlled Wi-Fi environments need persistent connectivity, while autonomous vehicles must communicate with networks, traffic infrastructure, sensors, and potentially other vehicles. These applications place greater emphasis on low latency, stability, uplink capacity, and continuous coverage.
Building a National Intelligent Infrastructure
AIS is framing the development within what it calls National Intelligent Infrastructure and its WISE network strategy. The framework combines spectrum, technology, and engineering expertise while emphasizing four areas: predictive network management using AI and automation, technology innovation, network-level security and trust, and intelligent energy management.
The objective is to make the network more adaptive rather than simply faster. AI-assisted monitoring can identify or predict network problems, while automation can improve response times. Energy optimization is also becoming more important as expanding networks and AI workloads increase electricity requirements.
More Than 20 Million 5G Users Expected
AIS reports having 19.7 million 5G customers, representing approximately 42% of its mobile subscriber base, and expects that figure to exceed 20 million by year-end.
The company says 5G Advanced is also becoming accessible beyond premium flagship phones as compatible devices spread into broader price segments. Customers do not need a dedicated 5G Advanced package, although they require a compatible device, 5G coverage, and an existing 5G service package.
That expanding device ecosystem could accelerate adoption of AI-enabled applications as network capabilities and consumer hardware develop together.
Thailand Eyes an ASEAN AI Connectivity Role
AIS ultimately sees 5G Advanced as considerably more than another increase in smartphone speeds. Previous mobile generations enabled SMS, mobile internet, applications, digital banking, streaming, and the Internet of Things. The emerging 5G Advanced era is expected to connect increasingly intelligent machines and AI-powered services.
Thailand’s geographical position within Southeast Asia, combined with growing hyperscaler and digital infrastructure investment, gives the country an opportunity to develop into a regional AI connectivity base. Yet that ambition will depend on resilient networks capable of handling the enormous and increasingly two-way movement of data required by AI.
AIS’s 3CC expansion therefore represents a potentially important infrastructure step. Faster uplinks alone will not make Thailand an ASEAN AI hub, but combining stronger connectivity, nationwide coverage, intelligent network management, compatible devices, and expanding AI infrastructure could provide the foundation needed for Thailand to compete as artificial intelligence becomes embedded throughout the regional economy.
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