NBTC Symposium 2026 Aims to Strengthen Thai Telecom Governance
The NBTC hosted its 2026 Symposium in Bangkok, bringing together over 140 domestic and international leaders to discuss telecom governance, data center energy demands, AI infrastructure, disaster resilience, and data sovereignty. The two-day forum emphasized cross-sector collaboration and digital infrastructure readiness amid growing geopolitical and climate volatility.
The two-day symposium covered four key themes. Day one focused on Energy & Security, discussing Thailand's data center future amid clean energy challenges, green telecom development toward net-zero goals, and applying Agentic AI to digital infrastructure governance. Day two addressed Volatility & Disaster, exploring disaster preparedness through direct-to-device satellite connectivity based on China's experience, multi-sector drone deployment for disaster response, Thailand's data sovereignty in a borderless digital world, and lessons from Japan on disaster management and crisis communication.
The hybrid event hosted over 140 onsite participants across both days, with simultaneous Thai-English interpretation, live captioning, and online access. UN ESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana delivered a video keynote, "Understanding a Volatile World in 2026," highlighting how geopolitical, energy, and climate volatilities intersect, stressing that resilience requires coordinated action across economic, energy, climate, and digital dimensions — underpinned by smart, secure, and flexible digital infrastructure, alongside digital inclusion, skills development, renewable energy expansion for AI and data centers, and regional cooperation.
The first session opened with four keynote speeches from distinguished figures and top executives overseeing critical national infrastructure. Kulit Sombatsiri, Chair of the Green Economy Transition Working Group under the Joint Public-Private Committee on Economic Issues, spoke on "Clean Energy for Thailand's Data Centers: A Pathway to the Green Economy," noting the convergence of clean energy transition with digital and AI transformation.
