First set of digital economy bills to go before Cabinet soon
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THE first set of bills promoting the digital economy is expected to be forwarded for Cabinet consideration this month, including those for establishing the Digital Economy Committee to be chaired by the prime minister.
Information and Communications Technology Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa said yesterday that this should allow the country to see the licensing of the 4G bands within six months.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said the ad hoc digital economy committee will hold its first meeting on Wednesday on the digital economy policy with the issue of the 4G spectrum licensing at the top of its agenda.
Once the ad-hoc committee completes the national digital economy policy, it will propose the policy to the National Council for Peace and Order for consideration.
If the NCPO gives the nod to the NBTC to resume preparing for the 4G licensing this month, the watchdog could start the auction six months later.
“We expect that the digital economy committee will support our auction plan and submit it to the NCPO for official approval,” he said.
The NBTC had intended to open bidding for the 1,800MHz bandwidths of both TrueMove and Digital Phone Co in the middle of last year, but in July the junta ordered the NBTC to suspend the auction for one year, pending thorough clarification of the auction plan.
The spectrum can be used for 4G wireless broadband service.
Takorn said he would propose to the NBTC to add the condition in the existing auction plan that those existing mobile phone operators that do not support the NBTC policy of requiring people to register their prepaid mobile phone SIM cards cannot join the 4G auction.
The NBTC has instructed all mobile phone operators to have their subscribers register their prepaid SIM cards to uphold national security until July 31.
Only five million people have registered out of the 90 million prepaid users in the country. The NBTC has enlisted Krungthai Bank and tambon administrative organisations to help everyone nationwide to register at their branches.
Takorn also said the NBTC proposed for the new NBTC bill to allocate frequencies for commercial telecom and broadcasting use via auction only, and those for public use via non-auction methods.
The new NBTC bill is one of the government’s bills to promote the digital economy. The current version just states that spectrum allocation does not need to be allocated via auction only but also by other methods to be specified by the NBTC.
The bill, which is being vetted by the Council of State, is expected to be tabled with the National Legislation Assembly next month.
Takorn said the NBTC and the upcoming digital committee would discuss the frequencies to be earmarked for commercial use and those for public use.
