NBTC to make public details of resolution
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Disclosure mandated by Frequency Allocation Law
To prevent any possible legal challenge, the National Broadcasting and Telecom-munications Commission (NBTC) will publicly disclose details of the resolution it passed last month approving the three industry master plans.
The move will bring the agency in compliance with Article 24 of the 2010 Frequency Alloca-
tion Law. The law requires the watchdog to disclose details of its board resolutions publicly
– including the opinions expressed by each of its 11 commissioners – when those resolutions involve issues that could have impacts on the public interest.
The disclosure has to be made within 30 days of the resolution being passed. The period can be extended for up to 15 days.
If the watchdog fails to comply with the law, it risks a legal challenge, an NBTC source said.
The NBTC’s board held a special meeting on March 21 to approve three master plans – for spectrum management, the telecom sector and the broadcasting sector. The plans were published in the Royal Gazette on April 4.
NBTC commissioner Settapong Malisuwan said the watchdog’s chairman, Thares Punsri, had asked all the commissioners last Thursday to send the opinions they expressed during the approval process of the master plans to him for public disclosure.
Ten of the 11 commissioners voted to approve the broadcasting and telecom master plans at the special meeting on March 21. Commissioner Peerapong Manakit was absent.
The commissioners cast secret ballots to endorse the spectrum master plan, because of differences of opinion on the periods the state agencies would be granted to return spectra for realloca-tion by the NBTC. Six of the 10 commissioners voted to maintain the periods in which radio, TV and telecom spectra were to be returned at five, 10 and 15 years respectively, as in the original draft.
