Thai mobile operators have been given until June to improve the quality of their services, or face penalties including license revocation.
Regulator NBTC is adopting voice and data quality requirements that are more in line with international standards, and the new amendments will take effect from June, the Bangkok Postreported.
The new regulations will require operators to provide successful connection rates of at least 85% in each of their service areas. Previously operators only had to achieve a nationwide average of 85%.
NBTC vice chairman Col Settapong Malisuwan told the paper that the new requirements are being introduced in response to a slew of customer complaints about poor voice signal quality and slow mobile data speeds.
Current regulations require operators to provide minimum 3G downlink speeds of 345kbps, but due to aggressive 3G promotions the NBTC says the typical speed of data services has dropped as low as 64kbps.
Thai operators have fair use policies that stipulate they shape download speeds after a certain allocation has been used up per month, but consumers have been claiming they did not receive the minimum speed even before shaping.
Philippine operators have been facing a consumer backlash over fair use policies and shaping in recent weeks, and now a similar situation could be brewing in Thailand.