Minister to take up TOT's claim for spectrum

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will discuss with the national telecom regulator that TOT should be allowed to keep a part of its 900MHz spectrum to provide service to the public, ICT Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa said.

The ministry wants to completely settle this issue with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) in the first quarter of 2015, so that the watchdog would have time to prepare for the spectrum auction, Pornchai said. In the government’s view, TOT should be able to keep a part of its spectrum, instead of allowing the NBTC to put the whole bandwidth in the auction for private telecom sectors to grab, he added.

Korkij Danchaivichit, deputy secretary of the NBTC office, said the NBTC would tell the ministry that the 2010 Frequency Allocation Law requires the state agencies to return their spectra with expired concessions to the NBTC for reallocation by means of auction. He is doubtful whether there would be any possible avenue for state agencies to keep such spectra.

The NBTC originally planned to auction the 12.5MHz bandwidth each of TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) in the 1,800MHz spectrum in the middle of this year, and Advanced Info Service’s 17.5MHz bandwidth in the 900MHz spectrum late this year. However, after it seized power, the junta ordered the watchdog to suspend the schedule for one year, pending “complete clarification” of the plan to the new military regime.

The 1,800MHz concessions of TrueMove and DPC under CAT Telecom expired in September last year, while the 900MHz concession of AIS under TOT expires September 2015. 

A ministry source said that the ministry might let TOT keep 5MHz bandwidth out of 17.5MHZ bandwidth of 900MHz.

Pornchai said that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha had inquired of him about the new spectrum licensing, as the government wants to promote the auctions, which would help drive economic growth. Pornchai told the premier that he needs to settle the TOT issue with the NBTC first before the watchdog could press ahead with the auction plan.

TOT has been asking the ministry to help it retain a part of the 900MHz spectrum to continue providing 2G cellular service on 900MHz cellular network, which was transferred to it by AIS under Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO) basis. Having a network without the spectrum to use with it would be pointless.

CAT senior executive vice president Viroj Tochareonvanith said that if TOT could keep part of the spectrum, CAT should also be able to do the same.

Recently three private telecom operators – AIS, Total Access Communication, and True – urged the NBTC to put a large enough mobile bandwidth into the auctions in order to ensure they could provide efficient bandwidth for the 4G service. 

Pornchai said the private sector could continue to make their case but a final conclusion would depend on the mutual consent of the government and the NBTC, not the NBTC alone. 

“That’s why we [the ministry and the NBTC] need to discuss and settle the [TOT] issue first,” Pornchai said.