3G bid winners, NBTC panel to meet re ceiling
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's telecom committee has instructed officials to discuss the setting of an interim maximum voice-service tariff with the three bid winners of 2.1-gigahertz spectrum slots.
The panel can only set an interim voice-tariff ceiling, and not the interim maximums for both voice and mobile data service, as earlier announced, as there is insufficient information to work out a tariff for the latter.
The NBTC’s office plans to meet with the three bid 2.1GHz spectrum bid winners – Advanced Wireless Network, DTAC Network and Real Future – next week on the matter.
The companies are required to send information on operating costs to the NBTC by late this month so that it can work out the interim voice-service fee ceiling. The final interim rate is expected to be announced in the middle of next month.
The telecom committee will attach the interim maximum voice-service fee conditions to the 2.1GHz licences it grants to the bid winners.
The move is an attempt by the panel to respond to pressure that the three bid winners must offer low fees for third-generation cellular service, given that they grabbed the prized spectrum slots on a low-competition basis at the auction on October 16.
The temporary voice-fee ceiling will be imposed only on the three bid winners. The rate will have to be finalised before the telecom committee grants them licences by mid-January.
Under the auction rules, licences must be issued to the bid winners within 90 days of the panel’s endorsement of the bid outcomes. This endorsement was given on October 18.
Giving something back
The telecom committee will ask the bid winners to collaborate on the interim maximum tariff as a means of giving some of the benefits gained back to society, said panel chairman Settapong Malisuwan.
The NBTC office recently said it was targeting the maximum voice and data 3G service tariff of the bid winners at between 15 and 20 per cent lower than the present rate.
In parallel, the office will draw up permanent regulations to govern the three companies’3G voice and mobile data service fees. These are expected to be finalised by the middle of next year.
Some of the bid winners have said that market competition among them is the most effective way to address the pricing issue.
NBTC deputy secretary-general Pitjapol Jantanasaro said the office would also have to work out the network interconnection charge for the three bid winners.
