Thailand's National Telecom to Shut Down Thaicom 4 Satellite Internet Service on June 30

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Thailand's state-owned operator National Telecom (NT) has announced that it will cease internet services provided via the Thaicom 4 satellite at the end of this month, as the 21-year-old satellite is scheduled for decommissioning by Thaicom.

NT issued a notice through its NT Satellite channel stating that the service will terminate at 11:59 PM on June 30, 2026. NT will continue to offer satellite internet access through nexConnect (a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service launched last year in partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb) and through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services provided via Globalsat.

Thaicom 4, which entered service in 2005 under the name IPSTAR 1, is expected to drift from its geostationary orbit position at 119.5 degrees east longitude after July 31.

To replace Thaicom 4, Thaicom subsidiary Space Tech Innovation Limited (STI) signed a contract with satellite startup Astranis in March 2024 for the provision of the Thaicom 9 satellite. However, media reports in April indicated that Astranis had delayed delivery after discovering "manufacturing issues in the same production batch." Astranis has not yet provided an updated launch schedule, and Thaicom has informed the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) that the launch may be delayed until at least 2007. In April this year, Thaicom received regulatory approval from the NBTC to temporarily lease capacity from KT Sat as a transitional measure to maintain connectivity for Thaicom 4 customers while awaiting the delivery of Thaicom 9.

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