Broadcast panel member seeks explanation why spectrum

Broadcasting committee member Thawatchai Jittrapanun said that if the telecom committee fails to give a good explanation, some broadcasting panel members might not accept the bid results when it is submitted for ratification to the NBTC board.

If many broadcasting committee members decline to accept the bid results, he questioned how the telecom committee could press ahead with the plan to grant licences to the bid winners.

Thawatchai said he needed a clearer explanation why the telecom committee did not raise the reserve price from Bt4.5 billion per slot once it had learned that there were only three qualified bidders.

The NBTC announced the names of the three pre-qualified bidders on October 9 before holding the auction on October 16. The auction outcome has been heavily criticised by many parties for allowing the three winners to snatch the prized nine spectrum slots at what they deem to be too low a price and with hardly any competition in the bidding.

He said if that if possible, both the telecom and broadcasting committees should discuss the matter before the former submits the bid results for the NBTC board’s ratification soon.

Four of the five members of the broadcasting committee including Thawatchai have sent queries to NBTC chairman Thares Punsri on the auction outcome. Thawatchai said he believed the opinions expressed to Thares by all four were the same.

However, Thawatchai agreed with the telecom committee’s decision to allow the bidders to grab a maximum of three slots each out of the nine slots auctioned. This will enable all bid winners to start their third-generation cellular businesses on an equal basis in terms of spectrum ownership.

The three winners this week jointly refuted allegations of bid collusion among them.

The telecom committee has affirmed that the reserve price was appropriate. If it was too high, this would have discouraged the bidders from taking part in the auction and would have affected spectrum allocation.

The auction has led to a series of legal challenges against the outcome and the NBTC. The National Anti-Corruption Committee last week set up a subcommittee to probe whether the telecom committee’s approval of the results violated the State Bidding Act.

Advanced Wireless Network of Advanced Info Service paid a total of Bt14.63 billion for three slots, while DTAC Network of Total Access Communication and True Corp’s Real Future paid Bt13.5 billion each for the three slots they acquired.

Of the nine 2.1GHz slots available, six went for exactly the reserve price of Bt4.5 billion each.