NBTC panel to finalise auction
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Aim is to promote competition
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s 2.1GHz management subcommittee will finalise on Tuesday the auction method for licences for that telecom spectrum, which is expected to divide it into nine slots, each containing 5 megahertz of bandwidth.
Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC telecom committee, said yesterday that after the methodology is finalised, the result would be submitted for his committee’s approval at the end of this month and to the NBTC board next month. Then it will be put to a public hearing process, which is expected to take two months.
He added that the NBTC’s ultimate goal was to promote competition in the market after the auction, not competition in the bidding itself.
He said the commission would not keep any part of the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum but would put all 45MHz of bandwidth up for auction. The watchdog intends to call for bids on the spectrum in the third quarter.
Settapong added that the telecom committee planned to invite Pacharasut Sujarittanonta of US auction design firm Cramton Associates to be its adviser for the auction.
Pacharasut, a Thai national, said one important element in an auction was that the regulator had to determine first what its ultimate goal was, then the auction process would be designed to fit that goal.
He added that there was no auction method that could satisfy all parties and the watchdog had to focus on promoting market competition after the event, which would benefit the industry in the long run.
In general, the main purposes of the spectrum auction include promoting post-auction competition, promoting efficient spectrum use by the bid winners, and amassing state revenue.
The NBTC has considered many auction methods. If it auctions nine slots of 5MHz each as expected, it will need to finalise the maximum bandwidth each participant can bid for.
