AIS beats True Corp to the punch with fee instalment

AWN, a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanced Info Service (AIS), is the first of the two winners of telecom licences to the 1,800-megahertz spectrum to pay the first instalment, underscoring its eagerness to launch its fourth-generation service on the spectrum by the middle of December.

AIS hopes to steal a march on rival True Corp, whose subsidiary True Move H Universal Communication (TUC) was the other winner of a 1,800MHz licence at the auction, which was held on November 11 and 12. An NBTC source said AWN was expected to conduct a trial launch on December 18.

Somchai Lertsutiwong, AIS’s chief executive officer, said the company planned to launch the service soon but could not elaborate on the exact date.

“When we are ready, we are confident we can launch the best services for our customers after waiting for our 4G services for long time,” Somchai said.

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, said the its telecom committee would convene today to approve the awarding of the licences to the auction winners who have paid the first instalment. The 18-year licence will be effective on the same day. However, TUC has still not informed the NBTC of when it will make the payment. 

A source from True Corp said the company would pay the first instalment of Bt19.896 billion after the upcoming auction of licences on the 900MHz spectrum, scheduled for December 15.

According to the NBTC, the bid winners have to pay the first instalment within 90 days of the telecom committee’s approval of the auction outcome, which was November 16. The winners are required to pay the second and third instalments of 25 per cent in each of the next two years.

AWN secured the second block of 1,800MHz by bidding Bt40.986 billion, while TUC secured the first licence block with the final bid of Bt39.792 billion.

AWN’s first instalment will be Bt21.927 billion, including value-added tax of 7 per cent, while the second and third instalments will be Bt10.963 billion each, including VAT.

Takorn said the NBTC would transfer all the proceeds to the state after deducting some of its expenses. The expenses for the auction totalled Bt110 million.

Once the 1,800MHz licences are awarded, the existing 2G-1,800MHz service, which is now being served to around 300 subscribers of Digital Phone (DPC) and 43,000 subscribers of TrueMove, will be switched off. They are the TrueMove and DPC customers who have yet to migrate to other networks after the companies’ concessions expired in September 2013. 

The NBTC reclaimed the TrueMove and DPC spectrum bands for auction after their concessions expired.

The telecom committee will also discuss today how to take care of the bidders in its auction of two 900MHz licences on December 15.

The committee had received complaints from executives of the four bidders over its inability to set up appropriate facilities during the auction of the 1,800MHz licences on November 11 in the event that it would drag on for an extra day. They complained after the bid competition continued beyond the originally intended closing time of 9pm on November 11. This meant the bidding executives had to stay overnight in the uncomfortable NBTC bidding rooms. The auction ended late on November 12. 

Vithit Leenutapong, chairman of AIS, informed the NBTC executives yesterday that the company would prefer non-stop bidding to guarantee the transparency of the process, but the NBTC should provide more facilities to accommodate the bidders.

The four bidders for the 900MHz licences will be AWN, TUC, Total Access Communication’s DTAC TriNet and Jasmine International’s Jas Mobile Broadband.