The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has warned Bangkok Bank (BBL) it risks losing the chance to become a guarantor for future state bidding projects if it does not pay the regulator a guarantee on behalf of Thai TV Co.
If the guarantor fails to pay the government agency, the NBTC will submit the case to the Office of the Attorney General, NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said.
The guarantor can see this detail in the contract Thai TV made with the agency, he said.
Mr Takorn said BBL would lose its credibility in the eyes of the government to become a guarantor in state projects if it insisted on paying the money only if its client gave consent.
The NBTC is planning auctions of auspicious mobile numbers in September worth 3 billion baht and auctions of fourth-generation mobile service licences late this year worth more than 10 billion.
Thai TV, operator of two digital channels, failed to pay the second auction-fee instalment of 288 million baht. The company placed a letter of guarantee worth 1.6 billion baht for the Loca children's channel and Thai TV news channel. It is facing losses of 300 million baht from running the channels.
The NBTC sent a formal letter to BBL yesterday requesting it pay the money on behalf of Thai TV within 30 days. However, Thai TV has informed BBL it does not want to pay the money to the regulator and vowed to take the case to court.
"We insisted that BBL must pay the bank guarantee without any excuses," said Mr Takorn.
A BBL source raised doubts about whether the NBTC has a mandate to block the bank from being the guarantor of private companies in state project auctions.
The country's second-largest bank by assets insists it will adhere to Thai TV's request.
The broadcaster has asked the bank to avoid paying the guarantee because it intends to sue the NBTC in the Central Administrative Court for failing to facilitate the digital TV transition, resulting in the company's losses and failure to pay the full auction fee, the source said.
If the NBTC takes legal action against BBL for failure to pay the guarantee, the bank will fight in court and deposit money in the same amount to show it does not intend to withhold payment but needs to abide by a contract between the bank and Thai TV.
Mr Takorn expects more digital TV operators will fail to pay auction fees next year. There are 24 digital TV channels, but only Thai TV missed the latest payment.
"Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) will be a solution for cash-strapped TV operators to survive intense competition," he said.
For M&As, each operator can hold a maximum of three channel licences, which must be in different categories — for example, if the operator has a news channel licence already, it cannot hold a stake in another company that runs a news channel. This is to prevent a media monopoly.
"We will propose this idea to the broadcasting committee to consider a rule amendment so that TV operators will have greater flexibility in running a digital TV business," Mr Takorn added.