Jas fiasco leaves open the fate of 900MHz slot amid contrary views on next step
IT REMAINS to be seen if the 900-megahertz slot abandoned by Jasmine International will easily be rebid, as the incumbent players have contrary views on the conditions for that to happen.
DTAC TriNet (DTN), a subsidiary of Total Access Communication (DTAC), yesterday submitted a letter to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission supporting the re-auction, but TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC), one of the winners of that auction in December, should not be allowed to enter this new round since it already has a 900MHz licence. A single telecom operator should be prevented from monopolising the 900MHz band.
It added that the re-auction should be limited to the last unsuccessful bidders in the first 900MHz auction. The reserve price should be set at Bt16.08 billion, it said, in case there are less than three bidders.
“As the re-auction of 900MHz lot 1 is a re-run of the previously unsuccessful auction, DTN believes that it is fair to unsuccessful bidders to compete in bidding for the spectrum based on the same rules.
“DTN encourages the NBTC to proceed with proper public hearings to ensure that all related stakeholders have an opportunity to express their views,” said Lars Norling, chief executive officer of DTAC.
Jasmine’s subsidiary Jas Mobile Broadband and TUC were the winners in the first round, while AIS’ subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) and DTN were the losers.
However, Jas forfeited its licence when it failed to pay the first instalment of the upfront licence fee and place bank guarantees for the rest by Monday’s deadline.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, has said the second auction was expected to be held in four months.
The Telecom Committee will meet today to discuss how to proceed now that Jas has defaulted on the payment.
The committee had resolved to re-auction Jas’ slot at the starting price of Bt75.65 billion– the last price that Jas offered. TUC is also eligible to enter this re-auction.
If no one is interested in bidding, the NBTC will arrange another auction in one year.
Suphachai Chearavanont, CEO of True Corp, said this week that the re-auction should be held soon but at the starting price of Bt75.65 billion.
TUC earlier disclosed that it had obtained a bank guarantee for the licence because it had shown the banks the clause for re-auction – of the price starting at Bt75.65 billion.
A telecom industry observer said that before making the decision to enter the new auction, AIS might have to consider first it could clinch the partnership with TOT to use the state enterprise’s 2.1-gigahertz spectrum to jointly provide the service.
This is the other key factor it has to consider besides the final details of the re-auction. AIS already has experienced cost of subsidising handsets to its 2G subscribers to migrate them to AWN network. If AIS can clinch a partnership deal with TOT, it will also have to make huge investment for the partnership.
TOT held a board meeting yesterday on the possible signing of the partnership agreement with AIS.
A telecom analyst doubts that any incumbent player will join this new round at such a high starting price of Bt75.65 billion.
He believes that since the terms of the NBTC members will expire in October of next year, the new NBTC could be the party that decides what to do with the slot in case no one wants to bid.
The same telecom analyst believes the competition among the three incumbents is intensifying even without Jas as a new entrant.
He assumes industry-wide service revenue to grow by only 1.2 per cent this year from Bt231.89 billion last year, and 2.7 per cent next year, compared to the 3.2-per cent-growth in 2015.
