The state-enterprise administrator has suggested that TOT and CAT Telecom focus on what they do best, providing telecom network services, instead of competing in the retail cellular market.
Kulit Sombatsiri, deputy director of the State Enterprise Policy Committee, said the Finance Ministry had clearly established that TOT and CAT are to be the state's mechanism of providing and developing the country's basic telecom infrastructure.
Headded that both entities should focus on their areas of expertise. TOT has years of experience in providing a fixed-line telecom network, therefore it should mainly focus on further developing broadband and fibreoptic networks. CAT has been the primary provider of overseas call services, therefore it should focus on further enhancing this market. He said both state agencies should review their services to see if they can perform better than the private sector.
Kulit made the remarks during a seminar "The Survival Direction of the Country's Telecommunications Industry", hosted yesterday by the Senate's science and communications technology committee. The seminar is part of the committee's plan to find ways to help TOT and CAT improve their competitiveness.
Anant Worathitipong, vice chairman of the panel, said that TOT and CAT should make their minds up whether they want to concentrate on the country's network infrastructure or compete with the private sector. it would be difficult to be successful in both.
Poomjai Attanant, director of the Infrastructure Project Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), added that both agencies should also be working on plans on how to fully utilise the existing network assets worth a combined Bt300 billion after concessions end in the next few years.
TOT's senior executive vice president Kittipong Tameyapradit said TOT was ready to be a network provider. It has allowed interested companies to propose to lease its upcoming 3G network in greater Bangkok to provide retail services.
However, he want the government to amend the relevant operation and procurement regulations to enable TOT to work faster and operate on a more efficient basis. Kulit said TOT and CAT could develop their own flexible procurement regulations and submit them for approval of the Office of the Auditor-General.
CAT senior executive vice president Kittipong Mekvichitseang said CAT had been improving its operating efficiency to be able to compete with private competitors, but its main abstacle was inflexible procurement regulations.
He added that TOT and CAT might experience problems making profits if they limit their roles to merely leasing the networks. Therefore, both agencies should do both-provide the network services and compete in the retail cellular sector.
Weera Burankitcharoen, a subcommitee member of the Senate's science and communications panel, said the government should amend the regulations controlling TOT and CAT to allow them to fully compete with private companies.
It has to ensure that the appointment of their board members and chief executives is free from political interference, he added.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
OBSTACLE COURSE AHEAD OF NTC ON 3G LICENSING
The national telecom regulator faces a host of obstacles that could derail its plan to auction four 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences in December.
One of the hurdles is whether the National Telecommunications Commission has the authority to grant the licences.
Recently Pornchai Meemak, a former member of the TOT labour union, filed a lawsuit against the NTC at the Central Administrative Court. He argued it was the authority of the broadcasting and telecom regulators to jointly allocate the new spectrum licences, and not that of the NTC alone.
The court has yet to accept the case, but Pornchai said his move suggested the NTC could face a spate of lawsuits if it pressed ahead with the auction of the 3G licences.
The question of NTC's licensing authority has haunted the watchdog since 2005, when the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the seven seats on the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), citing unconstitutionality.
The frequency allocation law mandates that a joint quorum of the NTC and the NBC is needed to draw up the telecom and broadcasting spectrum table and prescribe the use of the spectra.
In 2006, the watchdog consulted the Council of State over whether it has the authority to grant the new spectra without the NBC. The council said the NTC might be able to do so by referring to the spectrum table of the International Telecom Union in drawing its own table.
However, the Lawyers Council of Thailand recently pointed out that the council's ruling was delivered in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, which mandates the establishment of a new and single broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
The establishment of the single watchdog has therefore added a new question of whether it is more appropriate for the NTC to let the new entity grant the new spectrum licences.
The NTC plans to consult with the Council of State again on the question of its licensing authority.
Moreover, it has been suggested that it would be more appropriate for the NTC to wait for its four new members to take office first before it proceeds with the auction.
The two NTC member selection panels recently completed the processes of selecting a combined eight candidates to replace the four incumbent commissioners. The Senate might be able to appoint four of them to the NTC seats before the parliamentary session ends in November.
One commissioner, Artorn Chandavimol, resigned from the post before his term ended. Three other NTC members were then balloted out from the seats in 2006 after three years in office, in accordance with the frequency allocation law. However, these three remain in office until they are replaced.
Telecom industry observers said the new commissioners might ask to review or even delay the auction plan.
The private and state sectors have also said the planned auction process and conditions would financially hurt TOT and CAT Telecom and favour cash-rich firms - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller players.
One auction condition requires the bid winners to pay for the licences on a one-off basis, instead of by instalment. The NTC argues that the ability to pay in this way suggested a bidder's capacity to substantially develop a cash-hungry 3G business.
TOT has strongly opposed the licensing, saying that it would pave way for the private mobile concessions to migrate subscribers from the existing concessions to the 3G licences in order to save on regulatory costs. This would lead to a decline in its concession revenue.
TOT received Bt19 billion in concession fees from Advanced Info Service last year.
A major point of contention is that the auction would pave the way for foreign state telecom firms that are major shareholders in Thai telecom operators to grab the precious 3G licences and dominate the Thai market.
The NTC argued that it would refer to the Foreign Business Act and the Telecom Business Act when selecting the qualified 3G licence bidders. The two laws each limit foreign telecom companies' shareholdings in Thai telecom firms at 49 per cent.
Another key criticism is that the bid winners, after spending heavily to get the licences in the auction, would later pass on the cost to 3G users by imposing high service charges.
A telecom scholar has argued, however, that the NTC has the authority to set a maximum service fee.
One of the hurdles is whether the National Telecommunications Commission has the authority to grant the licences.
Recently Pornchai Meemak, a former member of the TOT labour union, filed a lawsuit against the NTC at the Central Administrative Court. He argued it was the authority of the broadcasting and telecom regulators to jointly allocate the new spectrum licences, and not that of the NTC alone.
The court has yet to accept the case, but Pornchai said his move suggested the NTC could face a spate of lawsuits if it pressed ahead with the auction of the 3G licences.
The question of NTC's licensing authority has haunted the watchdog since 2005, when the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the seven seats on the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), citing unconstitutionality.
The frequency allocation law mandates that a joint quorum of the NTC and the NBC is needed to draw up the telecom and broadcasting spectrum table and prescribe the use of the spectra.
In 2006, the watchdog consulted the Council of State over whether it has the authority to grant the new spectra without the NBC. The council said the NTC might be able to do so by referring to the spectrum table of the International Telecom Union in drawing its own table.
However, the Lawyers Council of Thailand recently pointed out that the council's ruling was delivered in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, which mandates the establishment of a new and single broadcasting and telecommunications regulator.
The establishment of the single watchdog has therefore added a new question of whether it is more appropriate for the NTC to let the new entity grant the new spectrum licences.
The NTC plans to consult with the Council of State again on the question of its licensing authority.
Moreover, it has been suggested that it would be more appropriate for the NTC to wait for its four new members to take office first before it proceeds with the auction.
The two NTC member selection panels recently completed the processes of selecting a combined eight candidates to replace the four incumbent commissioners. The Senate might be able to appoint four of them to the NTC seats before the parliamentary session ends in November.
One commissioner, Artorn Chandavimol, resigned from the post before his term ended. Three other NTC members were then balloted out from the seats in 2006 after three years in office, in accordance with the frequency allocation law. However, these three remain in office until they are replaced.
Telecom industry observers said the new commissioners might ask to review or even delay the auction plan.
The private and state sectors have also said the planned auction process and conditions would financially hurt TOT and CAT Telecom and favour cash-rich firms - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller players.
One auction condition requires the bid winners to pay for the licences on a one-off basis, instead of by instalment. The NTC argues that the ability to pay in this way suggested a bidder's capacity to substantially develop a cash-hungry 3G business.
TOT has strongly opposed the licensing, saying that it would pave way for the private mobile concessions to migrate subscribers from the existing concessions to the 3G licences in order to save on regulatory costs. This would lead to a decline in its concession revenue.
TOT received Bt19 billion in concession fees from Advanced Info Service last year.
A major point of contention is that the auction would pave the way for foreign state telecom firms that are major shareholders in Thai telecom operators to grab the precious 3G licences and dominate the Thai market.
The NTC argued that it would refer to the Foreign Business Act and the Telecom Business Act when selecting the qualified 3G licence bidders. The two laws each limit foreign telecom companies' shareholdings in Thai telecom firms at 49 per cent.
Another key criticism is that the bid winners, after spending heavily to get the licences in the auction, would later pass on the cost to 3G users by imposing high service charges.
A telecom scholar has argued, however, that the NTC has the authority to set a maximum service fee.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
CAT ANGRY OVER LAWSUIT, SET TO PULL CONCESSION FROM TRUE MOVE
CAT Telecom has threatened to terminate the concession contract of its private mobile concession True Move, citing lack of good faith and its recent filing of a lawsuit against CAT.
CAT executive chairman Krisda Kaveeyarn said yesterday that under the concession contract, CAT could terminate the True Move concession if it caused any damage to the state concession owner.
The state agency might also decide not to allow True Move to lease CAT's network for an additional five years after True Move's concession ends in the next four years. It might also disallow True Move from using its 850 MHz spectrum to provide 3G wireless broadband service on a trial basis, he added.
True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC) have both provided the 3G service on their existing 850 MHz spectrum on a trial basis with permission from CAT.
The threatening move from CATcame after True Move filed a civil case against CAT and also the state agency's two executives on September 24 to demand compensation of Bt50 million, citing that CAT had caused damage to True Move's image.
True Move said CAT has declined to return its bank guarantee regarding the minimum concession fee it had paid to CAT during the past three years. The CAT declined to return such guarantee amount later makes four banks from which it regularly seek bank guarantees decline to continue to provide the bank guarantee to True Move this year for paying such concession revenue minimum guarantee to CAT.
CAT explained it had to seize True Move's bank guarantee as the service provider had declined to pay the full concession fee to CAT and had instead deducted the interconnection fee. Therefore, CAT had seized the company's bank guarantee of Bt 350 million in 2006, Bt380 million in 2007, and Bt580 million in 2008. True Move has to pay the minimum concession fee guarantee of Bt640 million this year.
CAT also held back DTAC's bank guarantee as DTAC had deducted the interconnection fee from the concession fee first before paying the remaining concession fee to CAT. But banks still provide bank guarantee to DTAC on the matter due to its healthy financial status.
True Move's chief executive officer Supachai Chearavanont said the company has no intention to be in conflict with CAT but the company had to let the court decide the case for the good of both sides.
Currently True Move is engaged in seven legal cases with CAT. Six of them are cases CAT has filed against True Move with the Arbitration Panel, while the one has been filed by True Move against CAT.
The CAT board yesterday ordered the state agency's chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong to talk to True Move on how they could proceed with the cases.
Among the cases CAT has filed against True Move is the telecom excise tax. In 2006, the Thaksin Shinawatra government issued an executive decree to order all private fixed-line operators and cellular operators to pay part of the concession fee as the excise tax first before paying the remaining concession fee amount to their state concession owners CAT and TOT. This affected the concession revenue of TOT and CAT as earlier they had gained the full concession fee amount from the private concessions. However, the next government terminated the telecom excise tax in 2007. CAT asked True Move to pay the concession fee of Bt6 billion, which is the amount the company paid as telecom excise tax.
CAT senior executive Hansa Chivapruek said that the stage agency had already asked the Council of State in September to rule if it could allow private mobile concessionaires to offer the 3G service on commercial basis on their existing 850 MHz spectrum. If the Council of State rules it is permissible, CAT would allow True Move and DTAC to provide such service commercially.
But Krisda said that as True Move has already filed a lawsuit against CAT for damaging its image, CAT might not support the company in the matter.
"We don't want the company without good faith to do business with us," he added.
CAT executive chairman Krisda Kaveeyarn said yesterday that under the concession contract, CAT could terminate the True Move concession if it caused any damage to the state concession owner.
The state agency might also decide not to allow True Move to lease CAT's network for an additional five years after True Move's concession ends in the next four years. It might also disallow True Move from using its 850 MHz spectrum to provide 3G wireless broadband service on a trial basis, he added.
True Move and Total Access Communication (DTAC) have both provided the 3G service on their existing 850 MHz spectrum on a trial basis with permission from CAT.
The threatening move from CATcame after True Move filed a civil case against CAT and also the state agency's two executives on September 24 to demand compensation of Bt50 million, citing that CAT had caused damage to True Move's image.
True Move said CAT has declined to return its bank guarantee regarding the minimum concession fee it had paid to CAT during the past three years. The CAT declined to return such guarantee amount later makes four banks from which it regularly seek bank guarantees decline to continue to provide the bank guarantee to True Move this year for paying such concession revenue minimum guarantee to CAT.
CAT explained it had to seize True Move's bank guarantee as the service provider had declined to pay the full concession fee to CAT and had instead deducted the interconnection fee. Therefore, CAT had seized the company's bank guarantee of Bt 350 million in 2006, Bt380 million in 2007, and Bt580 million in 2008. True Move has to pay the minimum concession fee guarantee of Bt640 million this year.
CAT also held back DTAC's bank guarantee as DTAC had deducted the interconnection fee from the concession fee first before paying the remaining concession fee to CAT. But banks still provide bank guarantee to DTAC on the matter due to its healthy financial status.
True Move's chief executive officer Supachai Chearavanont said the company has no intention to be in conflict with CAT but the company had to let the court decide the case for the good of both sides.
Currently True Move is engaged in seven legal cases with CAT. Six of them are cases CAT has filed against True Move with the Arbitration Panel, while the one has been filed by True Move against CAT.
The CAT board yesterday ordered the state agency's chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong to talk to True Move on how they could proceed with the cases.
Among the cases CAT has filed against True Move is the telecom excise tax. In 2006, the Thaksin Shinawatra government issued an executive decree to order all private fixed-line operators and cellular operators to pay part of the concession fee as the excise tax first before paying the remaining concession fee amount to their state concession owners CAT and TOT. This affected the concession revenue of TOT and CAT as earlier they had gained the full concession fee amount from the private concessions. However, the next government terminated the telecom excise tax in 2007. CAT asked True Move to pay the concession fee of Bt6 billion, which is the amount the company paid as telecom excise tax.
CAT senior executive Hansa Chivapruek said that the stage agency had already asked the Council of State in September to rule if it could allow private mobile concessionaires to offer the 3G service on commercial basis on their existing 850 MHz spectrum. If the Council of State rules it is permissible, CAT would allow True Move and DTAC to provide such service commercially.
But Krisda said that as True Move has already filed a lawsuit against CAT for damaging its image, CAT might not support the company in the matter.
"We don't want the company without good faith to do business with us," he added.
Monday, October 12, 2009
NTC TO SEEK COUNCIL OF STATE OPINION ON AUCTION
The national telecom regulator will consult the Council of State again over whether it has full legal authority to auction the 3G-2.1GHz spectrum licences.
The board of the National Telecommu-nications Commission took this decision late last week, its chairman Choochart Phrom-prasit said.
Many private and state parties have questioned the NTC's authority to grant the 3G licences during the ongoing formation of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
NTC member Sethaporn Cusripituck said the watchdog would continue to proceed with the second public hearing on the auction conditions.
He declined to say, however, whether the NTC would put off the tentative auction schedule from the planned second week of December in order to wait for the Council of State's opinion.
He said he was uncertain when the NTC could auction the licences and maybe all it could do was to publish the final auction details in the Royal Gazette after the second public hearing.
"We're between a rock and a hard place. If we move to auction the licences, we might risk being sued. If we don't, we might face a charge of failing to follow the telecom master plan under which we are to award the 3G licences this year," he added.
In 2006, the NTC consulted the Council of State for the first time on whether it could draw up a national frequency-allocation table and award new spectrum licences without waiting for the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to be set up.
The council replied that the NTC might be able to refer to the frequency table of the International Telecommunication Union as a guideline for drawing up the spectrum table and allocating the spectra.
Under the telecom law, both the NTC and the NBC must jointly create the national frequency-allocation table. But in 2005, the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the NBC seats, citing the unconstitutionality of the process.
The Lawyers Council of Thailand last Thursday said the Council of State's first opinion was delivered to the NTC in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, under which the Article 47 determines the establishment of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
Early this month, Baker & McKenzie, the legal adviser of True Corp, wrote to warn the NTC that its planned licence auction might be unconstitutional.
A telecom industry observer said the NTC's weak point was its lack of legal adviser to counsel on the possible legal impact and shortcomings of the licence plan.
Some state and private parties have said the watchdog's plan to grant licences by auction would favour cash-rich telecom operators - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller firms, and would fully pave the way for foreign firms to snatch the 3G licences, which are regarded as a national asset.
The board of the National Telecommu-nications Commission took this decision late last week, its chairman Choochart Phrom-prasit said.
Many private and state parties have questioned the NTC's authority to grant the 3G licences during the ongoing formation of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
NTC member Sethaporn Cusripituck said the watchdog would continue to proceed with the second public hearing on the auction conditions.
He declined to say, however, whether the NTC would put off the tentative auction schedule from the planned second week of December in order to wait for the Council of State's opinion.
He said he was uncertain when the NTC could auction the licences and maybe all it could do was to publish the final auction details in the Royal Gazette after the second public hearing.
"We're between a rock and a hard place. If we move to auction the licences, we might risk being sued. If we don't, we might face a charge of failing to follow the telecom master plan under which we are to award the 3G licences this year," he added.
In 2006, the NTC consulted the Council of State for the first time on whether it could draw up a national frequency-allocation table and award new spectrum licences without waiting for the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to be set up.
The council replied that the NTC might be able to refer to the frequency table of the International Telecommunication Union as a guideline for drawing up the spectrum table and allocating the spectra.
Under the telecom law, both the NTC and the NBC must jointly create the national frequency-allocation table. But in 2005, the Central Administrative Court nullified the process of selecting 14 candidates for the NBC seats, citing the unconstitutionality of the process.
The Lawyers Council of Thailand last Thursday said the Council of State's first opinion was delivered to the NTC in 2006, before the inception of the 2007 Constitution, under which the Article 47 determines the establishment of the new telecom and broadcasting regulator.
Early this month, Baker & McKenzie, the legal adviser of True Corp, wrote to warn the NTC that its planned licence auction might be unconstitutional.
A telecom industry observer said the NTC's weak point was its lack of legal adviser to counsel on the possible legal impact and shortcomings of the licence plan.
Some state and private parties have said the watchdog's plan to grant licences by auction would favour cash-rich telecom operators - especially those with state foreign shareholders - over smaller firms, and would fully pave the way for foreign firms to snatch the 3G licences, which are regarded as a national asset.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
EXPERTS URGES FEWER, MORE EXPENSIVE 3G LICENCES
Telecom scholar Somkiat Tangkitvanich yesterday urged the national telecom regulator to award only a few third-generation 2.1-gigahertz licences and those at a high price.
He said that way, the licensing would not be regarded by the public as a means to helping private telecom operators move away from state concession towards the licensing regime.
Somkiat, vice president of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should auction off only a few licences, in order to ensure genuine bidding competition.
It should also set a high auction price aimed at private telecom operators, which plan to migrate customers from the concessions to the licences to save on regulatory costs. Somkiat believes no newcomers will enter the bidding, only incumbent telecom operators.
He cited analysts' reports that both state-concession owenrs TOT and CAT Telecom would earn a combined Bt150 billion to Bt180 billion in concession fees between now and the end of the concession period in six years.
Both state agencies will lose some of this if their private concessionaires move to the licences.
He made the comments during taping of the "Long Oey Yang Ngai" (How It Will End) Television programme on Channel 11. The other guest speaker on the programme was NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck.
Sethaporn said the NTC's board might switch to auctioning only one or maybe even three licences if necessary, instead of four as planned now.
The NTC board will finalise auction details at its meeting next Wednesday and put them to a second public hearing at the end of the month.
Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.
Private mobile-phone concessionaires pay about 20 per cent of their revenue in concession fees, while the annual 3G licences is estimated to cost them 6.5 per cent of revenue.
But Somkiat said it did not have to be the case that a high auction price for a licence would prompt the winning bidders to pass that cost on to consumers later.
The NTC could set a maximum service price.
Moreover, if the 3G fee were too high, consumers would not use the service.
He said capital used in the investment had no "nationality."
What should however be scrutinised is whether the investment can provide the best service to customers.
During the NTC's 3G public hearing last month, True Corp, parent of True Move, criticised the agency for ignoring the foreign-owernership issue in the 3G auction and said the NTC should not award the licences to foreign firms.
True said the auction favoured larger firms over smaller ones.
Somkiat quoted from a book that said often when national leaders felt themselves to be on shaky ground and could not address the problem head on, they fanned feelings of nationalism to boost their popularity.
"Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.
He said that way, the licensing would not be regarded by the public as a means to helping private telecom operators move away from state concession towards the licensing regime.
Somkiat, vice president of the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should auction off only a few licences, in order to ensure genuine bidding competition.
It should also set a high auction price aimed at private telecom operators, which plan to migrate customers from the concessions to the licences to save on regulatory costs. Somkiat believes no newcomers will enter the bidding, only incumbent telecom operators.
He cited analysts' reports that both state-concession owenrs TOT and CAT Telecom would earn a combined Bt150 billion to Bt180 billion in concession fees between now and the end of the concession period in six years.
Both state agencies will lose some of this if their private concessionaires move to the licences.
He made the comments during taping of the "Long Oey Yang Ngai" (How It Will End) Television programme on Channel 11. The other guest speaker on the programme was NTC commissioner Sethaporn Cusripituck.
Sethaporn said the NTC's board might switch to auctioning only one or maybe even three licences if necessary, instead of four as planned now.
The NTC board will finalise auction details at its meeting next Wednesday and put them to a second public hearing at the end of the month.
Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.
Private mobile-phone concessionaires pay about 20 per cent of their revenue in concession fees, while the annual 3G licences is estimated to cost them 6.5 per cent of revenue.
But Somkiat said it did not have to be the case that a high auction price for a licence would prompt the winning bidders to pass that cost on to consumers later.
The NTC could set a maximum service price.
Moreover, if the 3G fee were too high, consumers would not use the service.
He said capital used in the investment had no "nationality."
What should however be scrutinised is whether the investment can provide the best service to customers.
During the NTC's 3G public hearing last month, True Corp, parent of True Move, criticised the agency for ignoring the foreign-owernership issue in the 3G auction and said the NTC should not award the licences to foreign firms.
True said the auction favoured larger firms over smaller ones.
Somkiat quoted from a book that said often when national leaders felt themselves to be on shaky ground and could not address the problem head on, they fanned feelings of nationalism to boost their popularity.
"Recently, TOT expressed concern that private cellular concessionaires might migrate customers from the concessions to the licences, to save on regulatory costs. This would hurt TOT, CAT and the state coffers financially.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
NTC may lower bid price
The national telecom regulator's board might set a starting bid price for a 3G-2.1GHz-spectrum licence at lower than US$100 million (Bt3.33 billion), a source at the National telecommunications Commission (NTC) said.
The source said that some commissioners proposed in the recent board meeting that the starting price range should be between $50 million and almost $100 million per licence.
All the commissioners agreed that the starting bid should be different from the reserve price. The reserve price is the minimum amount the watchdog expects to gain from each of the auctioned licences.
The board will convene next week to conclude the amount of the starting bid price and the reserve price, the source added.
The NTC will auction four 3G licences.
The NTC members have kept insisting that the overall licence cost would not be too high so as to avoid hurting the bidders financially.
The NTC will hold the second public hearing on the conditions of auctioning the 3G licences at the end of this month. One topic is the contingency plan for the case in which the number of qualified bidders is less than or the same as the available licences. In this case, there would be no genuine competition in the auction.
NTC deputy secretary-general Prasert Apipunya said the contingency plan had three optional measures: put off the auction; the NTC could set a fixed licence price at the auction time and award the licences to the bidders that can pay for them; or the NTC would reduce the number of available licences to promote real bidding competition.
The NTC recently held the first mock-up auction to prepare potential bidders to understand the auction proces.s
Advanced Info Service's chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS had hired consulting firm Detacon to advise its 3G-licence bidding. He said AIS won the licence bid in the mock-up auction. AIS targeted the licence with 15MHz bandwidth and "won" it after quoting $173 million.
In the mock-up auction, the NTC set the starting price of the licence with 15MHz bandwidth at $150 million and the other three licences, each featuring 10MHz bandwidth, at $100 million.
The source said that some commissioners proposed in the recent board meeting that the starting price range should be between $50 million and almost $100 million per licence.
All the commissioners agreed that the starting bid should be different from the reserve price. The reserve price is the minimum amount the watchdog expects to gain from each of the auctioned licences.
The board will convene next week to conclude the amount of the starting bid price and the reserve price, the source added.
The NTC will auction four 3G licences.
The NTC members have kept insisting that the overall licence cost would not be too high so as to avoid hurting the bidders financially.
The NTC will hold the second public hearing on the conditions of auctioning the 3G licences at the end of this month. One topic is the contingency plan for the case in which the number of qualified bidders is less than or the same as the available licences. In this case, there would be no genuine competition in the auction.
NTC deputy secretary-general Prasert Apipunya said the contingency plan had three optional measures: put off the auction; the NTC could set a fixed licence price at the auction time and award the licences to the bidders that can pay for them; or the NTC would reduce the number of available licences to promote real bidding competition.
The NTC recently held the first mock-up auction to prepare potential bidders to understand the auction proces.s
Advanced Info Service's chief executive officer Wichian Mektrakarn said AIS had hired consulting firm Detacon to advise its 3G-licence bidding. He said AIS won the licence bid in the mock-up auction. AIS targeted the licence with 15MHz bandwidth and "won" it after quoting $173 million.
In the mock-up auction, the NTC set the starting price of the licence with 15MHz bandwidth at $150 million and the other three licences, each featuring 10MHz bandwidth, at $100 million.
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