NBTC told not to sell off 3G spectum cheaply

It would be inappropriate if the state authority auctioned this precious national asset at a low price, he said.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is expected to announce early next month the reserve price, which is the floor price for the spectrum blocks to be auctioned. It intends to auction off the 2.1GHz spectrum in October, for provision of third-generation cellular service.
Somkiat added that at the very least, the basis for pricing should be no lower than that used for the 15-megahertz licences planned by the NBTC’s predecessor, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), in its aborted auction of 2010. The NTC had set its reserve price at Bt12.8 billion per 15MHz licence.
As the NBTC will auction nine slots in the 2.1GHz spectrum, each containing 5MHz of bandwidth, the average reserve price of one 5MHz slot should be about Bt4.3 billion, if based on the NTC licence reserve price, Somkiat said.
To promote competition, the telecom scholar said, the NBTC should also revise or terminate any regulatory barriers to the entry of new players. The more players in the market, the more bidders in its future spectrum licence auctions, he said.
The NBTC is considering auctioning the fourth-generation spectrum blocks six months after the auction of the 2.1GHz licences.