Auction of spectra set for next year
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Sale of 1800MHz, 900MHz licences eyed in second half of 2015: NBTC
Early next year the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will resume developing the plan to auction the 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum licences sometime after July.
“We’re not sure right now if we’ll call bids for both frequencies at the same or separate times, it depends on the situation,” Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC’s Telecom Committee, said last week.
The licensing framework is now expected to be completed early next year, he said.
The original plan was for this year, but in June the National Council for Peace
and Order directed the NBTC to postpone it for one year to ensure transparency. Telecom operators believe the auction will be held next year.
The 1,800MHz bands had belonged to TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC). The 900MHz band is being used by Advanced Info Service (AIS).
Settapong also insisted that TOT would have to hand over the 900MHz from AIS to the watchdog for reallocation.
TOT granted the 900MHz concession to AIS. After the concession expires in September, TOT wants to retain the frequency to provide the service on its own.
There has been speculation that the government is attempting to restructure the independent NBTC or wants to even dissolve it or put it under the ICT Ministry. This could interfere with the auction plans.
However, Settapong is convinced that any major change of the NBTC’s regulatory role would not likely come soon but only after the new constitution is in place, and that would take time.
The 2007 charter gave birth to the NBTC.
“As long as there’s no change in related laws, we have to proceed according to our duty (to reallocate frequencies),” he said.
The NBTC has recommended to the government that it should amend the Frequency Allocation Act to merge the telecom and broadcasting committees, to allow the NBTC to allocate frequencies via other means besides an auction and to require the NBTC to seek Parliament’s approval of its budget.
The Frequency Allocation Act set up both committees and limited frequency assignment to auctions. The watchdog now devises its own budget without the need to seek legislative approval.
The NBTC is occasionally criticised for overspending its budget and going on extravagant overseas study trips.
