Regulation in the Digital Age : From Prepaid Registration to Mobile ID

Abstract

          Legal framework which stipulates duties and authority of the regulator tends to imply that the regulator must set the rules while licensees (regulated service providers) must comply.  However, in the digital age where various economic and service sectors converge, together with changes in consumers’ behaviour and preferences, the regulator must adapt its approaches towards positive regulation.  Impacts and benefits to all parties involved:  service providers, consumers, the regulator, and other related sectors, must be considered.  In addition, some regulatory power and roles must shift from the regulator to consumers so that the latter have more control regarding their rights and privileges from using telecom services.

         This article describes the background of prepaid mobile phone user registration in Thailand, and the Office of NBTC’s approaches to improve both the number of registered prepaid mobile and the accuracy of registration information.  Looking beyond the licensees’ obligations into incentives for users and other possibly related sectors, the Office of NBTC came up with tools such as “2 Snaps”, “2 Snaps Identity”, “3 Steps”, and “Mobile ID” to ensure all sectors benefit from mobile phone user registration which is complete, correct, safe, and can truly verify and protect the users.