Bandwidth per licence may be cut
IT IS LIKELY that there will be only 12.5 megahertz of bandwidth per licence available in the auction of two 1,800MHz spectrum licences on November 11, instead of 15MHz, National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission secretary-general Takorn Tant
Meanwhile, the TOT labour union yesterday threatened to take legal action to stop the NBTC’s plan to auction 900MHz licences, arguing that the state agency had the right to keep hold of the spectrum until 2025.
In the case of the 1,800MHz licence auction, Takorn said that as things stood now, the NBTC would have to revert to the original plan by putting up for auction only 12.5MHz per licence, instead of 15MHz.
He said the Finance Ministry had informed the Information and Communications Technology Ministry that CAT Telecom should not transfer 5MHz of the currently idle 25MHz bandwidth of 1,800MHz held by Total Access Communication (DTAC) to the NBTC for auction, as such a transfer would damage the state’s interest.
Moreover, such a bandwidth transfer would first have to go through the concession-amendment process, he added.
However, CAT yesterday insisted to Takorn that it could transfer the bandwidth to the NBTC, and that it was setting about doing so.
ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana said yesterday |that he would provide a clear answer on this issue in the next few days.
Under the original plan, the NBTC on November 11 would auction 12.5MHz of TrueMove bandwidth in the 1,800MHz spectrum, and the same amount of Digital Phone Co bandwidth.
However, CAT had proposed also handing over 5MHz of DTAC’s idle 1,800MHz bandwidth to the watchdog for auction.
If the CAT proposal were acceptable, the NBTC would auction 15MHz of bandwidth per licence, but if it were not, the NBTC would revert to the original auction plan.
Friday deadline
The NBTC had set a deadline of this Friday for CAT to hand over the 5MHz.
The starting-bid price per 12.5MHz licence is set at Bt13.26 billion.
If there are only two qualified bidders, the NBTC will raise the minimum to Bt16.575 billion.
In a related matter, six companies yesterday picked up bid documents for the two 900MHz licences that are also being put up for auction.
They are: Advanced Wireless Network, a unit of Advanced Info Service (AIS); two DTAC subsidiaries, DTAC TriNet and DTAC Broadband; TrueMove H Universal Communication and Hutchison Telecommunica-tions (Thailand), both units of True Corp; and Jas Mobile Broadband, a subsidiary of Jasmine International.
These are the same six companies that recently picked up bid documents for the 1,800MHz auction.
The NBTC is allowing potential bidders to pick up documents for participation in the 900MHz auction until October 21.
It originally set December 15 as the tentative auction date, but this is expected to be brought forward to November.
Meanwhile, TOT union members yesterday rallied at |the state agency’s headquarters on Chaeng Wattana Road to voice their determination that |it be allowed to keep hold of |the 900MHz spectrum after |the concession it granted to |AIS expires at the end of this month.
The union also voiced its desire that TOT receive compensation for its past amendments of AIS’s concession. The state agency has alleged that these amendments damaged it financially.
More than 500 of the trade unionists also submitted a letter to the ICT Ministry to express their stance on the 900MHz and AIS cases.
The union also threatened to sue the NBTC and have the planned 900MHz auction terminated, in order to defend TOT’s right to keep the spectrum.
