ICT Ministry, NBTC to solve 10 key issues
The ICT Ministry and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will jointly propose solutions within a tight time frame in relation to 10 key telecom issues, including whether state agencies can hang on to their spectra after the concess
Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap and the NBTC agreed yesterday on the establishment of a committee to coordinate policy implementation and the resolution of key problems.
The panel, which will be chaired by the ministry’s permanent secretary, will in turn establish 10 subcommittees, each of which will handle one of 10 major industry issues.
The subcommittees are required to propose guidelines for solving key issues within 90 days of their establishment, the minister said.
Among the issues in focus is the ICT Ministry’s proposal that the NBTC should permit TOT and CAT Telecom to keep their spectra after the end of the private concessions using spectrum bandwidth.
CAT’s cellular concessions granted to TrueMove and Digital Phone Co both end in September next year, followed by the Advanced Info Service concession granted by TOT, which expires in 2015. CAT’s concession granted to Total Access Communication (DTAC) is the last to expire, in 2018.
Both state agencies want to maintain these spectra to generate new revenue sources.
Last week, NBTC member Suthiphon Taveechaiyagarn said it might consider citing the Frequency Allocation Act to allow TOT and CAT to hang on to such spectra for a short period, possibly five years, so that service disruption could be avoided for the customers of private providers after the cellular concessions expire.
Under the commission’s spectrum management master plan, all state agencies have to hand over their spectra for NBTC reallocation once the private concessions end.
Other issues to be tackled by the 10 subcommittees include coordination between the ICT Ministry and the NBTC on satellite policy, and the NBTC’s plan to switch the country’s analog TV broadcasting system over to a terrestrial digital system.
The Cabinet has assigned the ministry to coordinate with the NBTC on the digital-switchover plan.
Meanwhile, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit said yesterday that the ministry had also requested a Bt980-million budget from the watchdog’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund to support the further expansion of its free high-speed Wi-Fi service project.
The project also aims to serve the government’s One Tablet Per Child scheme.The watchdog will forward the budget request to its committee in charge of the telecom and broadcasting fund, of which the USO is part.
