MCOT, TOT awarded fifteen-year network facility provider licences
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MCOT and TOT have each been awarded a 15-year licence as network facility providers by the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), while licences for other state agencies such as the Provincial Electri
The licence authorises MCOT, the operator of Modernine TV, to manage its 31 transmission sites, which are partly used for analog TV broadcasting. This is part of MCOT’s plan to use its existing broadcasting towers for digital TV. The listed company will also invest in new digital TV transmitters that will be installed at the 31 sites across the country.
Meanwhile, TOT can utilise its 48 telecom-relay sites for digital TV broadcasting as gap fillers in areas with weak TV signals.
Natee Sukonrat, chairman of the broadcasting committee, said yesterday that both companies would pay the regulator 2 per cent of gross income from providing the facilities to digital TV network operators, plus another 2 per cent for the NBTC’s research and development fund.
He added that the PEA and CAT Telecom were waiting for licensing approval by the panel, while other public TV broadcasters such as the Royal Thai Army’s Channel 5 and the Public Relations Department’s Channel 11 were expected to apply for this licence.
Before granting this facility-provider licence to MCOT and TOT, the NBTC awarded the same licence to the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) to manage its 39 broadcasting sites across the country.
The broadcasting panel yesterday also renewed 27 two-year temporary licences for satellite TV operators whose previous licences were due to expire next week.
Of those, 12 licences were issue for GMM Grammy and 15 for the Distance Learning Foundation, the operator of Distance Learning Television.
