Nonthaburi, 2 March 2020 – Thaicom Public Company Limited announced end of Thaicom 5 service and completed the deorbiting. The Company would like to provide satellite TV viewers experiencing satellite TV reception issues with guidance to continue enjoying a seamless TV experience.

On 17 December 2019, Thaicom 5 experienced a technical issue causing technical limitations to monitoring the status of the satellite. The Company performed several unsuccessful attempts to recover the satellite, resulting in the satellite manufacturer to recommend to deorbit Thaicom 5. The company hence informed its satellite television broadcast customers that service on Thaicom 5 will be stopped due to this unforeseen event. Thaicom 5 satellite service ended on 24 February 2020 in order to commence the deorbiting procedure which was completed on 26 February 2020, at 4:52 PM (Local Time).

Currently, satellite television broadcasting by various service providers use Thaicom 6 and Thaicom 8 at the 78.5 degrees East orbital slot for broadcasting, which is positioned at the same orbital location as Thaicom 5. Viewers are able to watch TV as usual if their set-top box software was updated and/or changes were made to the relevant user equipment.

Due to the fact that there are many satellite television service providers in Thailand which provide antenna equipment and set-top boxes of varying technical standards, in some cases software updates over the air (OTA) are not possible. In such cases, it is necessary for users to contact their service provider directly in order to continue viewing satellite TV via Thaicom 6 or Thaicom 8.