Document :

ITU-D SG01 RAPPORTEUR GROUP MEETING  Contribution  22

Title :

Thailand case study: deploying a nationwide Early Warning System (EWS) through Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) framework

Date :

2026-08-05

Source :

Thailand

AI/Question :

Q3/1

Meeting :

2026-09-28

Access :

Restricted to TIES users [ITU-D]

Abstract :

This paper presents Thailand's experience in establishing a nationwide Early Warning System (EWS) delivered through Cell Broadcast Service (CBS) technology and financed under Universal Service Obligation (USO) framework. It describes the legal and policy basis that allowed disaster alerting to be incorporated into the USO mandate without amending primary legislation; the structure and administration of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for Public Interest (BTFP) and its USO allocation; and the budget and financing arrangements agreed with the mobile network operators. The paper also documents in detail the principal problems and obstacles encountered during design and deployment - including institutional coordination, the division of technical responsibility, differing funding routes for state-owned and private operators, cost ceilings, core-network and device heterogeneity, and geographic targeting - and distils the lessons learned into a set of best practices that may assist other administrations considering similar EWS deployments. Participants are invited to consider this contribution.