True to dodge licence auction
True Corp does not plan to participate in the 700MHz licence auction as the company is awaiting more clarity if the government will grant to its request to extend the final instalment payment period of the upfront of its 900MHz licence.
True's co-president Vichaow Rakphongphairoj said: “True Group does not plan to participate as we are awaiting more clarity on the 900MHz payment extension.
"True Group has sufficient low-band frequency at 850MHz and 900MHz to reallocate to support 5G services. The 5G investment utilising existing bandwidth will be in specific areas where we expect good return on investment due to significant demand and readiness of 5G enabled devices. The company’s main focus is on continued revenue and margin growth as well as cash flow improvement.”
True subsidiary, True Move H Universal Communication (TUC), and also Advanced Info Service's subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN), in separate requests to the junta in 2017, sought ways to allow them to extend the payment period of the final instalments of their 900MHz spectrum licences.
AWN and TUC are scheduled to pay the hefty final instalments of Bt59.574 billion and Bt60.218 billion, respectively, in 2020.
Both telecom operators have cited that easing of this schedule would save them capital that could be spent on network expansion and the development of advanced telecommunications services and technologies, which would help in the country’s progress.
TUC won the 900MHz licence from the NBTC auction in December 2015 by proposing Bt76.298 billion, while AWN won the licence in May 2016 by proposing Bt75.6 billion.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is expected to call the bid of the 700MHz licence in May this year.