'Remedy period' deadline for TrueMove, DPC put off
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has allowed the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to extend the so-called remedy period |for TrueMove and Digital Phone Co (DPC) until after the next licence auction for telecom
An NBTC source said the NCPO complied yesterday with the commission’s request for the extension to avoid affecting the two telecoms’ users of the 1,800-megahertz spectrum.
After the two cellular operators’ concessions expired in September 2013, the NBTC permitted them to keep migrating customers to other networks for a one-year remedy period. After that. the NBTC would reclaim their 1,800MHz spectrum bands for auction.
However, in the middle of last year, the NCPO suspended the NBTC auction plan for one year and asked the commission to extend the remedy period until July 17.
There are still 520,000 users on TrueMove network, and 1,000 on the DPC network.
NBTC plans to auction |the two telecoms’ 1,800MHz bands in November. On Monday, the telecom committee of the NBTC approved a minimum |bid of Bt464 million per megahertz.
This is equivalent to 70 |per cent of the full spectrum value of Bt663 million per megahertz.
The licence term is 19 years.
