3G license auction set for late September
By USANEE MONGKOLPORN
THE NATION
Published on July 29, 2010
The National Telecommunications Commission will call the auction of licences for the 3G-2.1-gigahertz spectrum in the last week of September, according to the time frame approved yesterday by the NTC board.
NTC chairman Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn confirmed the time frame.
The NTC will auction three 15-year licences for third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunication service at the starting bid price of Bt12.8 billion each. Some NTC members are on an overseas roadshow to woo foreign telecom operators to join the bidding. They have already met with China Mobile, China Unicom, and SK Telecom.
The NTC has moved ahead with the licensing plan despite opposition to of some aspects of it.
Some private telecom operators have opposed the auction method, while others want the NTC to remove Clause 9.4 of the plan, regarding the return of 2G (second-generation) spectra by licence winners.
The clause requires incumbent telecom operators who acquire one of the new licences to return existing spectra to the concession owners TOT or CAT Telecom for reallocation. The reasoning behind the clause is that operators should not own too many spectra.
Some telecom operators, however, have expressed uncertainty that the two state enterprises will reassign spectra to them so they can continue providing 2G service.
The NTC has affirmed that TOT and CAT are obligated to provide current concession holders spectra to continue 2G service.
Meanwhile, the state joint committee developing the concession termination plan will meet with the NTC tomorrow to discuss the scheme. It will also meet with all private concession holders next week on the same matter.
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry and the Finance Ministry set up the joint committee to study three main aspects surrounding the termination plan, namely legal, technical, and financial.
A source close to the committee said the plan is legally feasible but declined to elaborate.
The concession-termination plan is part an effort by the Finance Ministry to put all mobile-phone operators under a single set of NTC regulations. Currently they operate under overlapping state concession and NTC regulations.
