NBTC to ask BT4-5 BN for a 2.1GHz spectrum slot

The source added that most members of the 2.1GHz spectrum management subcommittee agreed the average price should be in this range and should not be lower than that in the aborted 2.1GHz licence auction of the National Telecom-munication Commission (NTC) in 2010.
The NTC set the reserve price of a 15MHz-bandwidth licence at Bt12.8 billion. That regulator’s successor, the NBTC, would find it difficult to give a satisfactory explanation to the public if its reserve price were lower than the NTC’s price, the source added.
The source said the reserve-price calculation would also take into account an NBTC plan to auction blocks of the 1,800MHz spectrum in the near future.
The 2.1GHz subcommittee, which has drafted the auction plan, hired a group of lecturers from Chulalongkorn University’s economics faculty to work out the licence reserve price – the appropriate price floor for the spectrum slots to be available in the planned auction.
Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC telecom committee, said the group had proposed three optional models of the reserve price to the 2.1GHz subcommittee – but he declined to give more details. He added that the subcommittee asked the group to review the options by adding in additional factors in the calculations before resubmitting them for its consideration this |week.
The NBTC source said the group proposed the options of Bt7 billion, around Bt12 billion, and Bt100 billion prices for a 2.1GHz spectrum licence containing 15MHz bandwidth. The 2.1GHz subcommittee proposed to the watchdog that it auction a total of nine slots with 45MHz bandwidth of the 2.1GHz spectrum, each with 5MHz bandwidth. If it decides to select the first reserve price option of Bt7 billion per 15MHz, the average reserve price of 5MHz will be more than Bt2 billion. If selecting the second option, the average price will be about Bt4 billion, and about Bt33 billion if selecting the third option.
The subcommittee is also expected to allow successful bidders to pay for the licence on an instalment basis. It has considered specifying in the auction plan the number of mobile-phone numbers the NBTC will allocate to the licence winners to provide third-generation service during an initial period, which it has yet to finalise. This will enable the winners to devise strong business plans.
Settapong said that if things go as planned, the 2.1GHz subcommittee would be able to finalise all details of the auction by the middle of this month. Then it will submit all final details for the NBTC’s approval in late June and the public hearing on them will take place next month.
The NBTC intends to auction the 2.1GHz spectrum licences in October.