Panel prepares to hire ITU as auction consultant
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The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's telecom committee yesterday approved the terms of reference (TOR) to hire the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as its consultant to draw a plan for the auction of the 1,800- and 900-
However, the committee has yet to finalise whether it will auction all of the spectra together or only the 1,800MHz band of TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) first.
The 1,800MHz concessions of TrueMove and DPC, both subsidiaries of True Corp, and Advanced Info Service (AIS) will expire on September 15, while the 900MHz concession of AIS will end in March 2015. The 1,800MHz concession of Total Access Communication (DTAC) will expire in 2018.
Earlier, the committee had planned to draft only the licensing regulations for the 1,800MHz auction of TrueMove-DPC but last week changed its mind by concluding that the plan should cover the 900MHz auction as well.
Korkij Danchaivichit, NBTC deputy secretary-general, said the committee was expected to sign a contract with the ITU next month after approving the TOR yesterday. The ITU will take four months to finish the task.
The ITU consultation fee is expected to be around Bt25 million, the same fee paid to consultant firm Nera for developing the licensing regulations for the 2.1GHz spectrum licensing plan last year, according to an NBTC source.
The ITU will be assigned to work out the spectrum valuation focusing on the starting price of the spectra for the auction. The consultant will also be assigned to study the spectrum cap – the maximum spectrum slots in the auction each bidder can grab. The consultant will also study how to create the pre-qualification process, auction methods and auction rules. The consultant is expected to take six months to complete the draft plan.
It remains to be seen whether the committee’s planned auction or the 1,800MHz band of TrueMove-DPC will proceed smoothly, as CAT Telecom, which owns their concessions, wants to keep this spectrum for a certain period to provide broadband cellular service.
Meanwhile, the telecom committee yesterday approved a new regulation on mobile-number portability, allowing phone-number transfers from one network to another via text messaging, as well as pre-registration online.
Around 2 million AIS subscribers have already transferred their phone numbers to its 2.1-gigahertz subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN), while True disclosed that about a million had migrated from the TrueMove network to its 2.1GHz subsidiary Real Future. Both AWN and Real Future launched their 2.1Ghz third-generation services in May.
About 1.7 million DTAC customers registered to migrate to its 2.1GHz subsidiary DTAC Trinet, which is expected to soft-launch on June 21 and officially launch next month.
