NBTC may allow new bidding for second 900MHz licence next month

The moves will be put for consideration by the National Council for Peace and Order.

Meanwhile, it is possible that |the NCPO will seek ways to extend |the period in which Advanced Info Service (AIS) has to shut down its existing 2G -900MHz service.

The current deadline is April 14. 

The NBTC, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam and related agencies met yesterday after the regulator asked the government to consider invoking its special power under Article 44 of the interim charter to permit the NBTC to grant a request by AIS that it award the remaining 900MHz licence to the company without holding a new auction round. 

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, said the agency had proposed three options at the meeting.

The first was to hold the auction on the originally planned date on June 24, the second is to simply award the licence to AIS, and the third is to bring the auction forward to May 22 and allow TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC) to participate.

Jas Mobile Broadband would be banned from taking part in the auction, at which the starting price for bidding will be Bt75.654 billion.

Jas had failed to pay an upfront fee for the licence it won in the 900MHz auction in December by the required deadline. It is that licence which is now available and subject to ongoing talks.

Officials at the meeting asked the NBTC to come back and propose what it considers to be best of the three options for submission to the NCPO.

Takorn said the regulator was likely to propose the third option as the best solution. “We expect the NCPO will reach a decision if it receives our proposal [to bring the auction forward] on April 11,” he added.

The NBTC is hoping that an additional bidder will join the auction, he said, adding that he had held unofficial talks with True, during which the firm expressed interest in taking part.

AIS proposed to the NBTC last Monday that it should award the 900MHz licence to AIS, which is willing to pay Bt75.65 billion for the licence – the same price that Jas had offered to win the available slot in the auction in December. 

The NBTC telecom committee had earlier resolved to ban True, which had already clinched a 900MHz licence in the auction late last year, from entering the new bidding round.

Wissanu said the government would seek ways to prevent AIS’ existing 2G customers from facing a service shutdown on April 14.

AIS on Thursday again petitioned the Central Administrative Court to extend the deadline for switching off its second-generation cellular service on the 900MHz band from April 14 to June 30.

The firm said the extension was needed to prevent disrupting service to 8.2 million subscribers on the band.

The court postponed a hearing on the petition from yesterday to Monday. 

The first request for an extension was made last month, after which the court forbid the licensing body from ordering AIS to shut down the service at midnight on March 15 and allowed the firm to continue using the 900MHz band until April 14.