War seen unlikely to disrupt internet services in Thailand

Major telecommunications operators have reassured customers that their internet services in Thailand remain stable and unaffected, mainly due to their network redundancy systems and diversified routing paths, despite potential risks to undersea cable systems stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.

They were responding to reported concerns in the global telecommunications industry that some sections of undersea cable networks could be threatened by fighting in and around the Gulf region.

State enterprise National Telecom Public Co Ltd (NT) has reaffirmed the robustness of Thailand’s internet infrastructure, expressing confidence that services will remain uninterrupted.

Col Sanpachai Huvanandana, president of NT, said on Monday the state agency’s network is supported by redundancy systems capable of maintaining efficient operations even if disruptions occur on certain submarine cable routes.

“As a leading provider of international internet gateway services, NT has implemented a range of measures to ensure seamless and reliable connectivity,” he said.

Highly reliable network

NT currently manages traffic across six submarine cable systems, covering both terrestrial and maritime routes.

In the event of a disruption, traffic can be immediately rerouted along alternative paths.

It has also secured diversified international capacity in advance, enabling effective traffic distribution, reducing single points of failure and ensuring service continuity.

Of the six submarine cable systems, only two are linked to the risk zone, accounting for less than 10% of Thailand’s total outbound internet traffic to Europe.

As a result, any potential disruption is expected to have a limited and manageable impact.

NT has prepared to address indirect effects, such as increased latency to certain destinations, by optimising routing and network management to maintain a consistent user experience.

NT’s network operations centre continues to monitor the situation closely around the clock, Col Sanpachai said.

According to True Corporation, while ongoing developments in the Middle East may pose potential risks to undersea cable systems, such scenarios are not expected to affect True’s international connectivity services in Thailand.

This is supported by True’s resilient network architecture, designed with multiple layers of redundancy and diversified routing paths.

Khurrum Ashfaque, True’s chief network officer, said the company’s network is designed with diversified routing across multiple layers and does not rely on any single international path.

“This allows us to dynamically manage and reroute traffic based on real-time conditions. In addition, our global network partners haveconfirmed sufficient bandwidth capacity and diverse routing options to support continued service delivery,” he said.

True’s international connectivity is supported by the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable 2 system, which operates on routes between Singapore and Japan.

This infrastructure is geographically independent of the affected regions and remains fully operational.

True operates a highly resilient and diversified network, with multiple transit and peering partnerships at major internet exchange hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong. These enable diverse routing paths across Asia, Europe and other regions.

True, as an internet service provider, maintains connections with more than 30 peering partners and nine transit partners, all of which are Tier 1 global providers with extensive international reach.

Less than 5% of True’s internet traffic is currently routed to Europe and the Middle East, further limiting the overall impact of any potential disruption.

In September 2025, multiple undersea cable systems in the Persian Gulf region — including SMW4, IMEWE, FALCON and EIG — experienced significant disruptions. Despite the scale of the incident, True’s services remained unaffected, demonstrating the effectiveness of its network design and redundancy strategy, the company said.

According to Advanced Info Service (AIS), the company reaffirms its readiness to address the unrest in the Middle East, ensuring continuous domestic and international network connectivity.

“AIS maintains strong preparedness across both domestic and international networks, actively managing resources across primary and backup routes to ensure service continuity,” the company said.

Source – Bangkok News