All satellite assets to move to infra fund

Songporn Komolsuradej, permanent secretary of the MDE, said recently that satellite operator Thaicom would be informed about this when they discuss the ministry’s plan to bring the company’s Thaicom 7 and 8 satellites under the concession regime.
The ministry believes that the two latest satellites, which operate under the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s licensing regime, should come under its concession regime, since the concession system is still in force.
Thaicom 4, 5 and 6 operate under the ministry’s concession, which terminates in 2021.
The life spans of Thaicom 4 and 5 coincide with their concession, while Thaicom 6’s life span extends eight years past 2021.

Build-operate-transfer
According to the concession’s build-operate-transfer principle, Thaicom has to transfer all of its satellites and facilities to the ministry after the concession ends.
The MDE has claimed that the Cabinet recently allowed it to start negotiating with the company to move Thaicom 7 and 8 back to the concession regime.
Thaicom 7 and 8 pay 5.25 per cent of their revenue as the annual licence fee, while the concession fee costs Thaicom 4, 5 and 6 annually 20.5 per cent of their revenue.
The upcoming national telecom infrastructure fund will include the Bt15 billion worth of rural broadband Internet network and submarine cables that will be rolled out in 30,000 villages nationwide by the ministry.
Yesterday, the NBTC’s telecom committee acknowledged the recent Cabinet resolution on the national satellite plan of the MDE. On August 30, the Cabinet acknowledged the MDE’s long-term plan for national satellites after it was studied by Chulalongkorn University.
It allowed the MDE to handle the Thaicom issue based on fairness, the best interest of the government and compliance with relevant laws and regulations including the Private Investment in State Undertakings Act or PPP law and the Frequency Allocation Act or NBTC law.