EU to air concerns to NBTC over dominance rules
A European Union delegation will meet today with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to express concern over the possible impact of the watchdog's draft of revised regulations preventing foreign dominance in local telecom operator
An NBTC source said yesterday that the group would discuss the matter with the commission’s telecom committee.
The group has followed the regulations since their development many years ago by the National Telecommunications Commission, which has been superseded by the NBTC. The regulations took effect last September. The group is concerned that the regulations will be detrimental to the investment climate in Thailand. The regulations will not only restrict but also make unclear the conditions for participation of foreign investors in the service market here, it says.
The NBTC has affirmed many times that the rules are not primarily meant to deter foreign investment but to help local telecom operators avoid breaching laws, such as the Telecom Business Act and Foreign Business Act. Each act caps foreign shareholdings in local companies at less than 50 per cent.
The NBTC held the second public hearing on the draft revised regulations last week. The new rules would require all telecom operators with state concessions and NBTC licences to devise measures to prevent acts deemed as foreign dominance in their organisations and submit them to the watchdog.
In the second hearing, Total Access Communication (DTAC) said it was concerned that the draft could be used to challenge the qualifications of prospective bidders for the upcoming third-generation licences for the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum or to affect the watchdog’s auction for those licences.
The existing rules had been opposed since the draft’s development. Representatives of foreign chambers here were worried that that the rules would cloud the investment outlook in the Thai telecom industry and might compromise the country’s commitments with international trade organisations.
The NBTC at its meeting yesterday approved four draft documents – for terms and conditions of the 2.1GHz licence auction, regulations for infrastructure sharing, regulations for network roaming, and regulations for operating mobile virtual networks. All drafts will put to a public hearing in August and the 3G licence auction could take place in October.
Licence applicants have to comply with the Telecom Business Act, be Thai companies and comply with the upcoming revised foreign-dominance regulations.
The NBTC also approved the quality standard for mobile data communication services, which will become effective 180 days after publication in the Royal Gazette.
