Ministry plans amendments to Frequency Allocation Law
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will initiate the amendment of some clauses in the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law to make it clearer to all parties, and to end different interpretations of the law.
Minister Anudith Nakornthap said that after brainstorming with those parties involved, he found that the law had resulted in many different interpretations with different parties interpreting the same law for their own benefit. The law, therefore, needed to be revised to make it clearer, and enable all parties involved to take the same direction.
Anudith added that different interpretations sometimes resulted in legal challenges and this did not benefit the development of the telecom industry. All sides should, therefore, join forces and look at how best to amend the law, which could take a couple of years to revise.
"The law has been used for three years now and has experienced some problems and legal challenges, which are not good for the industry. The best way out of these problems is to join forces on revising the law to make it more effective," he said
An ICT Ministry source said that one of the clauses in the law that should be amended was Article 45, which obligates those wanting to provide telecom services to apply for a telecom licence, enabling them to gain the spectra via bidding.
The other clause was Article 28, which required the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to hold a public hearing on the broadcasting and telecommunication draft regulations as they are expected to have a significant impact on the public. However, it appears that the watchdog used very few of the opinions voiced during the public hearing to improve the draft regulations.
Jesada Sivaraks, secretary to the NBTC vice chairman Settapong Malisuwan, said that sometimes it was impractical to reallocate the spectra via the auction as required by law. International parties have also said that spectrum reallocation should focus on how countries can maximise spectrum use instead of focusing on the reallocation.
The ministry is also expected to revise the clauses regarding spectrum holdings by state telecom agencies. While the NBTC has insisted that the law requires the state telecom agencies to return spectra for reallocation once the concession ends, the state telecom agencies have said they want to continue using the spectra to provide advanced telecom services after the concession ends.
The Cabinet’s agenda-screening committee has accepted an ICT Ministry proposal to represent the government in negotiating with the NBTC on the plans of TOT and CAT Telecom to keep their spectra after the concession ends.
