Oct 17 'tentative date' for 2.1GHz
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has set October 17 as the tentative date for auctioning the 2.1gigahertz spectrum, which could be followed by an auction of the 1,800megahertz spectrum.
However, it remains to be seen whether the commission will be able to get back the 1,800MHz spectrum from CAT Telecom for auctioning once the concessions of cellular operators TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) under the spectrum end in September next year.
Like fellow state agency TOT, CAT wants to keep its spectrum after the two concessions expire, instead of handing it over to the regulator. CAT has also consulted with the Information and Communications Technology Ministry on the matter.
A source at the NBTC said that if it were unable to get back these concessioned spectra from CAT and TOT, it might require them to pay for the lost-opportunity cost of not being able to reallocate them for other parties.
Another possibility is that it might allow CAT and TOT to retain their concessioned spectra until 2018 and then take them back for reallocation at that time. However, this option is unlikely on legal grounds, the source added.
The NBTC telecom committee is expected next week to appoint a subcommittee to handle the approaching concession expirations of both TrueMove and DPC.
A telecom analyst considers that the auction of the 1,800MHz spectrum will see fierce competition among bidders, given there will only be a combined 25MHz bandwidth available in the auction from TrueMove and DPC, against large spectrum demand from the three major cellular operators.
Besides the concessions of TrueMove and DPC, CAT owns the 1,800MHz and 850MHz concessions of Total Access Communication (DTAC), which end in 2018. TOT owns the 900MHz cellular concession of Advanced Info Service (AIS), which expires in 2015.
The NBTC source added that TOT and CAT would enjoy excessive spectrum bandwidth if the NBTC were unable to bring some of them back for reallocation.
TOT owns 17.5MHz of the bandwidth under the 900MHz spectrum of AIS. CAT owns 25MHz of the bandwidth of the part of the 1,800MHz spectrum of TrueMove and DPC combined, 50MHz bandwidth of DTAC’s share of 1,800MHz and 10MHz bandwidth of DTAC’s 850MHz.
CAT and TOT want to keep the concessioned spectra as income-generating sources of their own in the wake of the loss of huge concession revenue from 2014, when they will start passing all concession income to the state coffers, as required by the frequency allocation law.
A political attempt is also being made to have both state agencies retain their spectra in order for them to generate huge revenue.
However, the watchdog wants to reallocate their concessioned spectra to ensure the industry’s efficient spectrum use.
According to the NBTC’s spectrum management master plan, which came into effect in April, all state agencies have to return their concessioned spectra for NBTC reallocation once the concessions expire.
They can keep the spectra with no expiration date for certain periods, which are a maximum of 15 years for state telecom agencies, 10 years for state TV agencies and five years for state radio agencies.
