Triple T’s early licence renewal still unsigned
National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission chairman Tares Punnasri has yet to sign on to the telecom committee’s approval for extending the Internet-service-provider licence for Triple T Broadband Co, which operates the 3BB service.
On January 30, the telecom committee of the NBTC approved renewing the licence for another 15 years. The renewal had raised some eyebrows among telecom industrialists as it was granted nine years before the original licence term was due to end in February 2026. According to the telecom committee’s decision, the new expiry date will be January 29, 2032.
Under NBTC procedures, if the commission chairman declines to sign an approval, the NBTC office may forward the case to be reviewed by its legal advisory committee. The telecom committee’s approval has taken effect, but the licence extension is not legally complete at this point.
Tares is abroad and could not reach for comment.
The sitting NBTC commissioners’ six-year terms are due to expire this October. Currently there total nine commissioners, four of them in the telecom committee and four in the broadcasting committee.
Triple T, which has registered capital of Bt1.25 billion, is in the business group of the Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed telecom Jasmine International (Jas).
The company has obtained this telecom licence with a 20-year term for the first time since February 29, 2006.
In its request for the licence-term extension, Triple T informed the telecom committee that it wanted to increase its potential to seek loans from financial institutions for its plan to spend Bt97.919 billion between this year and 2036 to expand its network coverage and upgrade its technology. Of that total, Bt36.273 billion will be spent in the first five years.
Triple T will also expand its fixed-line telephone service by an additional 800,000 phone numbers, up from the current 157,000.
Under NBTC rules, a licence holder can apply for renewal at least one month in advance of the expiration date.
According to the NBTC office, the company paid a licence fee of Bt105.3 million in 2015 out of gross revenue of Bt7.537 billion. Its licence is in the Type 3 category, which is for operators with large and dedicated networks.
As of the third quarter last year, Triple T had 2.3 million broadband subscribers.
Jas posted consolidated total revenue for the third quarter of 2016 of Bt3.994 billion, increasing by Bt291 million year on year. Most of the revenue was contributed by Triple T.
