Bt4.5 BN slot reserve price set
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's 2.1GHz management subcommittee yesterday finalised the reserve price for a 5MHz-bandwidth spectrum slot at Bt4.5 billion.
Bidders will also be required to lodge a deposit of Bt1.35 billion to take part in the auction.
The company offering the highest bid for a slot will be allowed to select its desired spectrum range, followed by the second-highest bidder then having first choice among the remaining available ranges, and so on. The slot price can be raised by a fixed 5 per cent each round , from the initial reserve price of Bt 4.5 billion.
NBTC member Suthiphon Taveechaiyagarn said all key details of the auction plan would be submitted for the telecom committee’s consideration today, and then for the NBTC board’s deliberation tomorrow.
The watchdog will then hold the public hearing on the auction plan in August, followed by the auction itself in October.
Other key details approved by the telecom panel recently include instalment payments for the spectrum slots by the bid winners at 50 per cent of the total price within 45 days of the auction, another 25 per cent in the first year and the rest in the second year.
Bid winners are also required to finish the network roll-out to cover 50 per cent of the population in the first two years, and 80 per cent within four years.
NBTC telecom committee chairman Settapong Malisuwan said the final reserved price is equal to 70 per cent of the market price of the 2.1GHz spectrum, which is valued at about Bt6.44 billion.
The NBTC’s predecessor, the National Telecommunications Commission, had set the reserve price of the 15MHz bandwidth of the 2.1GHz spectrum at Bt12.8 billion.
The watchdog has a total of 45MHz of bandwidth in the 2.1GHz spectrum, which it will split into nine slots for simultaneous auction, each containing 5MHz bandwidth. It is capping at four the number of slots each bidder can pitch for.
The agency has vowed many times to make the auction happen, and has strived to plug legal loopholes in order to ensure a successful process.
Only Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Corp are expected to take part in the bidding.
The telecom committee held a mock auction yesterday, in which representatives of many companies, including AIS, DTAC, True Corp, TOT, CAT Telecom, Siam Commercial Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Thailand, participated.
They were split into three groups, each with four companies, to separately bid for the spectrum slots.
