Telenor and Dtac have issued a humbling apology to Thailand's regulator and ruling military junta for its behaviour in exposing a secret order to block Facebook access days after the coup d'etat.
Telenor had earlier issued a statement saying that they had received an order to block Facebook access from the national broadcasting and telecommunications commission. Both the NBTC and the military initially denied giving any such order and all operators fell into line saying it was just a network failure.
"Earlier this week, Telenor Group released information to both international and Thai media in relation to an incident that occurred on the 28th May. These actions damaged the public image of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which regulate the telecommunication industry and oversee the security of the nation as a whole, respectively. The executives of Telenor Group and Total Access Communication (Dtac) regret what happened," the statement said.
"Thailand is currently under the administration of the NCPO. Thailand requires unity among its people and its many foreign friends who are operating in the country
"The executives of Telenor Group and Dtac would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the NBTC and NCPO. We will continue to strengthen our dialogue with the people of Thailand for the betterment of the country."
The move is aimed at pacifying an extremely angry regulator in the run up to spectrum auctions.
On Thursday the NBTC will be holding a public forum on the 1800 LTE refarming auction pencilled in for August. NBTC telecoms chair colonel Setthapong Malisuwan has said he would propose a 25 MHz spectrum cap.