Fortune-teller |popular during NBTC mock auction
Around 50 officials of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission were very busy last Thursday. Besides conducting a mock auction of 1,800-megahertz licences for four bidders at the NBTC head office on Phaholyothin Road Soi 8, they were t
It is known that Charoen Phokphand Group, which includes True, consults fortune-tellers on many of its important moves, including True’s bid for a 1,800MHz licence on Wednesday.
True Move H Universal Communication is one of the four qualified bidders for the licences. The company has sent to the NBTC the name list of the 15 representatives (10 primary ones and five substitutes) who will sit in the bid?ding room.
One person on the name list is the CP Group’s fortune-teller, the same one who joined True representatives in the firm’s bid for a 2.1-gigahertz licence in 2012.
On the mock-auction day on Thursday, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith start?ed explaining the bid process to representatives of bidders at 9.30am. Representatives of three bidders went to the room to listen to Takorn right away, but True representatives and the fortune-teller did not go in until around 9.45am.
After that when NBTC officials led representatives of the four bidders to tour the four bidding rooms and one back-up room on the third floor of the head office, some reporters noticed that the fortune-teller took his time carefully observing things in each of the rooms.
And then came the golden opportunity for the NBTC officials.
After the bidding-room tour, the NBTC had each of the four bidders take turns in the mock auction between noon and 4pm, starting with Jas Mobile Broadband, then DTAC TriNet, Advanced Wireless Network (AWN), and True Move H.
Each was given 90 minutes to try the auction. This allowed more than 50 NBTC staff to take turns asking the CP Group fortune-teller to foresee their future.
One True staff member had to arrange a queue.
NBTC staff were reportedly impressed with the fortune-teller, as he gave them the service for free.
But True is not the only high-tech company with a strong belief in luck. Market leader Advanced Info Service, parent of AWN, also does, as reflected by the colour its representatives wore on the days the company submitted its proposals to bid for the 1,800MHz and 900MHz licences. On such days, their representatives all wore the same blue colour.
“And we’re working out which colour to wear on the day of the 1,800MHz auction,” an AIS executive said.
