NBTC set to reclaim some bands from defence units
THE NATIONAL Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission board yesterday approved a plan to reclaim some spectrum ranges being used by all state defence agencies in the 1,800- and 900-megahertz bands, to be reallocated for commercial use.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit said the defence agencies would return these ranges in the 1,800MHz and 900MHz spectra. Then the NBTC will assign other spectrum ranges from different bands to them for security use.
The defence agencies will return all of the spectrum ranges from 1,710-1,880MHz within one year and those from 790-960MHz within five years.
The NBTC discussed the return of these ranges with the defence agencies for two years, and the agencies recently agreed to return them.
The regulator has to prepare the 1,800MHz and 900MHz spectra for purely commercial use as it plans to auction them off this year. However, the NBTC is still waiting for the military’s ruling National Council for Peace and Order approve the auctions. The junta suspended the auction plan, pending the commission’s complete clarification of it.
