Thailand eSIM: What NBTC's 60-Day Rule Doesn't Cover
An eSIM for Thailand roams on AIS and True, so NBTC's 60-day tourist-SIM cap and its no-top-up rule (29 August 2025) never touch it.
12 plans for Thailand, from 1 GB at $3.99 to 20 GB at $17.99, plus 6 unlimited-data tiers. 5 GB for 30 days costs $7.99 — the cheapest of 29 in Asia, against a $10.99 median. Our retail prices from the operator catalogue, checked 28 September 2026.
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Data only: the profile carries no phone number, your own stays as it is. Not sure of the size? Work it out from your trip. Terms and refunds.
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What it costs per day
Cheapest per day: 3 GB for 30 days at 20¢ a day. The dearest per day is Unlimited for 3 days at $3.16. Short plans always cost more per day: validity is rounded up, and unused days are paid for anyway.
How much data to buy
Four ways people use a phone abroad, sized against this country’s own plans. The gigabytes are an estimate built from published per-hour rates — nobody measured your phone.
The hours behind each row are our assumption, not yours — put your own in and the same rates do the arithmetic.
Where a row shows a range, the cell is sized on the lower number, which assumes the evening runs on hotel Wi-Fi. On mobile data around the clock, read the upper number and take the next size up. The per-hour rates and the 15% added for background traffic are listed with their sources in the calculator.
What applies in Thailand
Operator facts from the Airalo catalogue, read 28 September 2026. Rules and networks change — check the date before you rely on a line here.
Does this apply to you? (what the 2025 notification actually limits)
An eSIM Thailand is Maew, Airalo’s data-only profile that roams on AIS and True and carries no Thai-registered phone number. NBTC’s August 2025 notification regulates a Thai mobile line bought from a Thai operator. It does not regulate a roaming data profile bought before you fly. NBTC (National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission) published the measure in the Royal Gazette on 29 August 2025. It took effect the next day, 30 August (Royal Gazette, Vol.
142, Special Issue 284 Ng, read 14 August 2026). The legal basis is the Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crimes B.E. 2566 (2023), as amended by Decree No. 2 B.E. 2568 (2025). NBTC’s board approved it in resolution 19/2568 on 30 June 2025. Trairat Wiriyasirikul, acting NBTC secretary-general, signed the notification on 28 August 2025.
Two clauses name a foreign national directly. Section 7 caps registered numbers at three per operator. Section 8 limits a Tourist SIM to sixty days of use, and top-up cannot extend that limit. Both clauses attach to a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registered with a Thai operator — at a counter, or through the operator’s own local eSIM. A Maew eSIM for Thailand roaming onto AIS and True is a different purchase. It carries no Thai phone number. It is never registered in a Thai operator’s subscriber system. Neither of Thailand’s eSIM registration rules reaches it.
Search for “SIM registration passport Thailand” or “real-name registration AIS” and what comes back is AIS’s own local product, not a roaming one: a passport and a selfie at checkout, for AIS’s own eSIM or SIM. That is a Thai line, registered under this same notification. At a glance it looks like any other travel eSIM for Thailand. The distinction sits in the purchase, not the technology — an eSIM is a delivery format, and Thai law regulates the line under it.
The rest of the notification governs an operator’s own anti-fraud duties: flagging accounts with abnormal call patterns, verifying subscriber data on a rolling schedule, registering SMS sender names for bulk messages. None of it touches a tourist’s account.
This page covers a holiday, a work trip, or any stay on a phone you already own, connecting through a travel eSIM for Thailand bought before departure. It does not cover buying a Thai SIM, or a local operator’s own eSIM, at an airport SIM counter or online — both go through the registration this notification describes.
What you get: Maew on AIS and True, 5G, data-only
Maew is Airalo’s eSIM for Thailand, roaming on both AIS and True’s 5G networks, data-only. It installs with an automatic APN on iPhone and Android — no manual field to fill in. The install window runs 365 days from purchase. The plan’s own clock starts on first use, not at checkout (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026).
| Data | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | $3.99 |
| 2 GB | 15 days | $5.49 |
| 3 GB | 30 days | $5.99 |
| 5 GB | 30 days | $7.99 |
| 10 GB | 30 days | $10.99 |
| 20 GB | 30 days | $17.99 |
The entry tier is a 7-day tourist plan with 1 GB of data. Twelve tiers run from there up to unlimited-data plans. The table shows that entry tier and the mid-size 5 GB tier; check the current line-up for the sizes between them and the unlimited plans above. Retail pricing set by this site, not Airalo’s own listed rate; checked 14 August 2026.
The plan is rechargeable. Airalo’s own checkout carries no Know Your Customer (KYC) or ID-upload step for it (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026). Maew’s top-up options attach to the same profile if bought within a 90-day grace window, rather than forcing a fresh install (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026). That absence of an identity check mirrors the purchase distinction above: Section 7’s passport-only rule governs a registered Thai line, and a Maew profile is never registered as one. For a dated look at Airalo’s own track record across countries, see the Airalo review.
The 60-day tourist-SIM limit — and why a roaming profile is not one
Section 8 caps a Tourist SIM’s usage period at sixty days, and states directly that a top-up does not extend that period. That applies to a Thai operator’s own Tourist SIM, registered with a Thai number. A Maew eSIM roaming on AIS and True is never registered as one, so the sixty-day limit does not apply to it.
The clause reads: “ผู้ให้บริการมีหน้าที่จำกัดระยะเวลาการใช้งานโทรศัพท์เคลื่อนที่ของนักท่องเที่ยวต่างชาติ (Tourist SIM) ให้มีระยะเวลาการใช้งานไม่เกินหกสิบวัน โดยไม่สามารถเติมเงินเพื่อขยายระยะเวลาการใช้งานได้”
In English: an operator must limit a foreign tourist’s usage period to no more than sixty days, and top-up cannot extend that period (Royal Gazette, Vol. 142, Special Issue 284 Ng, 29 August 2025, read 14 August 2026). Wanting to keep using the same Tourist SIM past day sixty means going back to the operator. The traveller must re-verify identity — the same clause requires it.
That is a hard stop on the SIM’s usage period, not a deadline to activate it. Sellers who mention the sixty-day figure at all tend to state it as a flat cap. They skip the no-extension detail the notification actually carries: a top-up buys more data on the same line, but never buys more days.
None of it applies to a Maew profile. Section 8 names “นักท่องเที่ยวต่างชาติ (Tourist SIM)” — a Thai operator’s own tourist product, sold as a Thai line with a Thai number. A travel eSIM roaming onto AIS and True runs on the same two networks Section 8 regulates. That’s exactly why the distinction matters: the rule follows the account type, not the antenna. Maew’s own clock is the 365-day install window and first-use activation described above. Airalo’s own product terms set that clock, not NBTC’s notification, and neither carries a sixty-day ceiling.
A second NBTC notification is reported to have been published in the Royal Gazette on 15 May 2026, according to the law firm Tilleke & Gibbins. This page has not read that text directly. Any change it may carry is treated as unverified until the primary document is confirmed.
Three numbers per passport, per operator
Section 7 caps a foreign national at three registered mobile numbers per operator, not three for the whole country. The text reads “ไม่เกินสามเลขหมายต่อหนึ่งคนต่อหนึ่งผู้ให้บริการ” — no more than three numbers per person per operator (Royal Gazette, Vol. 142, Special Issue 284 Ng, 29 August 2025, read 14 August 2026). The SIM quota per passport therefore counts per operator. Thailand runs three major networks (AIS, True and dtac), and the cap applies separately to each one.
| Operator | Foreign-national line cap |
|---|---|
AIS | 3 |
True | 3 |
dtac | 3 |
A tourist registering local lines with all three could legally hold up to nine numbers at once — three per operator. Nothing in the notification suggests that’s a common case. The same clause names the only accepted proof of identity: a passport. That is Thailand’s foreigner registration requirement in full. No other document — a driver’s licence, a national ID from another country — satisfies it.
The cap governs registered Thai numbers. A Maew profile carries no Thai number to register. It doesn’t draw against any operator’s three-line quota, on AIS, True or otherwise. If you also want a Thai phone number alongside Maew’s data profile — for a hotel booking, a local rideshare account, a Thai bank’s one-time password — that second line is a Tourist SIM. Section 7’s cap and Section 8’s clock both apply to it, even though neither applies to Maew itself.
Before you fly: install at home, the 365-day window
Install the profile before you leave, on a working Wi-Fi connection — not at the gate. The Quick Response (QR) code or install link needs internet to complete, and an airport connection isn’t guaranteed. The profile stays installable for 365 days from purchase. Buying weeks ahead of a trip costs nothing (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026).
Confirm the profile shows as installed in your phone’s settings before boarding. Nothing needs to be active yet: Maew activates on first use, once the phone actually connects to AIS or True after landing, not at the moment of installation (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026). A profile that shows installed but inactive at the gate is expected, not a fault.
If you’ve never installed a travel eSIM before, the steps are the same regardless of destination. The iPhone install guide and the Android install guide cover the QR-scan and manual-entry paths in full.
On landing: dual SIM, no Thai number, data roaming toggle
A Maew profile carries data only. It has no Thai phone number, no SMS and no calling minutes. Switch data roaming on for the Thailand eSIM specifically once you land. The connection completes once the phone reaches an AIS or True tower.
Running it alongside a home SIM works on any dual-SIM phone. Set Maew as the data line. Turn off cellular data — not the whole line — on the home SIM, so nothing pulls data over an expensive home-carrier roaming connection by accident. Calls and texts on the home line still run at that carrier’s own roaming rates — a separate cost, unrelated to Maew or to NBTC’s notification.
An eSIM not working after landing is usually an activation-timing issue, not a Section 7 or Section 8 problem. Give the phone a minute after it reaches an AIS or True tower before assuming something’s wrong.
Anything that verifies you by SMS to a Thai number sits outside what a data-only profile does. That includes a Thai bank’s one-time password, a delivery app tied to a Thai number, or a local rideshare account opened with one. None of those needs come up for a short trip on a phone you already own. If one does come up, it needs a registered Thai line — the product Section 7 and Section 8 regulate, not this one.
Coverage: Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai
Maew roams on AIS and True’s 5G networks — the same towers Thai subscribers use in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai. Airalo’s own listing for the product names mainland and island coverage directly, including Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi and Phi Phi (Airalo catalog data, checked 14 August 2026).
Bangkok’s dense urban grid sits inside AIS and True’s strongest coverage. So does Phuket’s resort strip, and Chiang Mai’s old city and immediate surroundings. 5G speed still depends on the phone’s own band support, alongside AIS’s and True’s live network state on a given day. A 5G-capable phone isn’t guaranteed a 5G signal everywhere those two networks reach — 4G is the fallback where it doesn’t. No dated, route-specific signal report turned up for the northern hill provinces beyond Chiang Mai, or for smaller Gulf islands outside the four named above. Treat a remote or mountainous itinerary as an open question. Check AIS’s or True’s own coverage map before relying on it there.
FAQ
Is it worth getting an eSIM for Thailand?
Which eSIM is best for Thailand?
Can I buy or top up an eSIM once I'm already in Thailand?
Does the 60-day tourist-SIM limit apply to a travel eSIM?
How many phone numbers can a foreigner register in Thailand?
Why does AIS ask for a passport and a selfie when I try to buy an eSIM directly from them?
How strict is Thailand with passport checks for SIM registration?
How do I register a Maew eSIM for Thailand?
Sources and freshness
Checked against NBTC’s notification text in the Royal Gazette (Vol. 142, Special Issue 284 Ng, published 29 August 2025, effective 30 August) and Airalo’s Thailand catalog data: 14 August 2026. The Gazette PDF’s Thai text doesn’t extract cleanly through standard tools. The clauses quoted above were verified by rendering the document to images and reading it directly, not by an automated text pull. A second NBTC notification, reported by the law firm Tilleke & Gibbins as published 15 May 2026, has not been read directly. Any change it may carry is treated as unverified pending confirmation of the primary text. NBTC can amend or reissue this measure without notice — recheck the Royal Gazette directly if it has been more than a few months since this date.
Sources cited only — expert review pending. For individualized advice, consult a licensed professional.