BANGKOK, May 4, 2025 – Thailand will implement its Cell Broadcast (CB) disaster notification system by mid-July, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced on Sunday, marking a big step toward enhancing the nation’s emergency alert capabilities. The announcement, made during the television program Thailand’s Opportunity with PM Paetongtarn on National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT) 2HD, follows a series of efforts to address shortcomings in the country’s disaster warning systems exposed by recent natural events.
The CB system, designed to deliver rapid and widespread emergency alerts to mobile phones across Thailand, will enable the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) to send concise warnings to millions of users simultaneously, even if devices are set to silent. “When an emergency occurs, your phone will sound an alert, informing you where to go and what to do,” Paetongtarn explained, stressing the system’s ability to provide clear, actionable instructions during crises such as earthquakes, floods, or storms.
The push for the CB system gained urgency after a major earthquake centered in Myanmar’s Mandalay region struck on March 28, 2025, causing tremors in Bangkok and several Thai provinces. The delayed SMS alerts during the event—taking over an hour to reach the public—drew sharp criticism and prompted Paetongtarn to overhaul the disaster notification process. “The SMS system was too slow and inadequate,” she noted, highlighting that the old system could only send messages to 100,000–200,000 numbers at a time, often requiring hours to reach millions.
To bridge the gap until the CB system’s full rollout, Thailand has been using a Virtual Cell Broadcast Entity (CBE) and SMS notifications, with Android devices currently receiving alerts while negotiations with Apple continue to extend CBE services to iOS users. Recent tests conducted by the DDPM, True Corporation, and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) have shown promising results, with alerts successfully delivered to both Android and iOS devices in under a minute in targeted areas.
Paetongtarn confirmed that the government has already invested in and signed contracts for the CB system, with testing underway to ensure a smooth launch by mid-July. “We should make everything as simple as possible, just adding the province name to avoid human error, and set up a digital system so that when an emergency occurs, it’s just a matter of pressing a button,” she said.
The program, a collaboration between the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, NBTC, DDPM, and mobile operators like True and AIS, will support notifications in five languages—Thai, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian—to ensure inclusivity for both Thai citizens and foreign tourists and expats. The system requires no pre-registration and will cover all mobile service providers, making it a great tool for public safety.
