Big three firms pass 3G auction pre-qualification process

The pre-qualification panel submitted the results to the NBTC office, which will pass them on to the telecom committee, which will formally announce the companies’ names today.
The three applicants are Advanced Wireless Network, a unit of Advanced
 Info Service (AIS); DTAC Network, a subsidiary of Total Access Communication (DTAC); and Real Future, which is part of True Corp.
The source said that if following the upcoming auction, the final up-front fees from the bidding were deemed to be too low, some parties could file a suit against the NBTC’s auction terms and conditions, which have been criticised in some quarters as paving the way for the three bidders to grab spectrum slots in a low-competition auction.
Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the auction should take place, or the Kingdom would lag further behind other countries in making third-generation cellular service available.
However, he questioned how the NBTC would show accountability if the auction did indeed experience low competition, which he estimated could cost the state coffers some Bt17 billion.
While some bidders are willing to pay a large sum to win spectrum slots, the watchdog seems not to want to see a highly competitive auction, he added.
DTAC recently said it expected to spend between Bt15 billion and Bt20 billion on bidding for slots.

WATCHDOG DEFENDS POSITION
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit yesterday reaffirmed that nothing could hold back the watchdog from holding the auction as planned on October 16.
He added that anyone had the right to legally challenge the auction under the Constitution, and the regulator stood ready to clarify its position in any cases that might arise. The NBTC has proceeded in accordance with the law in developing the auction plan, he insisted.
On Sunday, telecom scholar Anupap Tiralap threatened to petition the Administrative Court or the Constitution Court to suspend the auction if, before it took place, the watchdog failed to issue regulations to ensure fair competition and top-quality broadband cellular service for consumers.
Takorn said the NBTC was confident it already had all appropriate regulations in place to protect consumers, but it could also introduce new rules if needed in the future.
The share prices of AIS and DTAC dropped yesterday in what appeared to be a reaction to Anupap’s threat to seek a court order to suspend the auction.
AIS’s stock ended the day at Bt206, down from Friday’s close of Bt209, while DTAC shares fell from Bt89.50 on Friday to Bt87.25 yesterday. True’s share price, meanwhile, closed at Bt5.60, up from last week’s close of Bt5.60.
The NBTC will on October 16 call for bids for nine slots of the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, each containing 5 megahertz of bandwidth, at a reserve price of Bt4.5 billion apiece. Each of the bidders can go for a maximum of three slots.
The Bt4.5-billion reserve price is based on 70 per cent of the full value of a 5MHz slot, which has been calculated at Bt6.4 billion.
As part of the tender’s terms and conditions, the winners of 10MHz bandwidth or more have to provide network coverage to 50 per cent of the population within two years, and to 80 per cent within four years. They could be fined for failing |to meet these network coverage standards.
Their network capacity for data transmission must also satisfy the NBTC’s mobile data service standard regulations, which were published in the Royal Gazette last Friday.