Ombudsman tells court 3G auction breached charter

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Ombudsman tells court 3G auction breached charter

Published: 15 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The Office of the Ombudsman yesterday told the Administrative Court that the auction of 2.1GHz 3G spectrum slots was in breach of the charter.

Chalermsak Chantaratim, the office's secretary-general, gave the statement to the court which yesterday held an urgent inquiry about the Oct 16 auction.

The Office of the Ombudsman lodged a petition with the court last Thursday seeking the cancellation of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's (NBTC) auction on the grounds that its structure did not allow for free and fair competition or bring maximum benefits to the country.

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Acutus
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Discussion 14 : 16 Nov 2012 at 09.1314
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Powerless people who live in Thailand must understand and accept the simple fact of live that the financial benefit of the non-powerless people are the most important issue.

No matter what powerless people want and think, who cares.

Anyway, I am happy to donate my HTC One XL in the near future. Register your interest here if you want it!
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Acutus
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Discussion 13 : 16 Nov 2012 at 08.5913
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D#1, why Thais should trust or rely on foreigners?

To Thais, no foreigners have any ideas about how Thais live etc. 3G or 4G are no important as long as money flow in the right direction.
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koolbreez
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Discussion 12 : 15 Nov 2012 at 17.1112
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This wasn't an auction, it was simply a sale, and deeply discounted at that. Normally the bargain price isn't given until those buying at the recommended price are finished, then the price is reduced to clear out the leftover stock. In this case the price was reduced first on extremely valuable merchandise. I wish these kinds of "auctions" happened in real everyday life.
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bkposter
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Discussion 11 : 15 Nov 2012 at 14.2111
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RE: D4 the telcom regulator screwed up their own auction..they set minimums and those minimums were met...they are Auctioning the right to use and operate an old and out of date spectrum. It is old and out of date because they have twiddled there thumbs for 5 years while the world went by. It is not the fault of the buyers that the sellers made a mess of their own auction....move on...and start to auction 4 g and 5g....
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topcat_bk
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Discussion 10 : 15 Nov 2012 at 12.2010
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"Free fair and competitive" was never an option under the terms of the so-called "auction". Even a slow grade-school student could have done the math on this, in under 2 minutes. It is completely beyond all reason that only now this becomes an issue.

All the agencies and officials who allowed this sham to go as far as it has, need to be held to account and purged from the system for negligence, incompetence or corruption... at least that's what SHOULD happen. But I'm not holding my breath for it.
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saparod
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Discussion 9 : 15 Nov 2012 at 10.569
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The strategic move not to move on to 2G ...ops... i mean 3G, will reduce a lot of headaches and hassle for our authorities and people in power, who are by now already facing enough problems by the 'evil internet and social media' which allows people to expose some of their formerly secret business practices, non-existing ethics and skills. Hence.... authorities vote 'no' for development!

If the above is not true.... then we surly have a 'very' serious problem with capabilities and abilities of our people in authority!
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veracity
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Discussion 8 : 15 Nov 2012 at 09.258
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Just a quick comment to the unaware
4G/LTE handsets (Smartphones) Transmit and receive on 28 different channels (frequencies Slots)
Typically they transmit(Upload) on the upper frequencies (Around 2.1 Ghz) and,
Receive (Download) on the lower frequencies (700-900Mhz).
The lower frequencies work better in and around tall building or when driving in car.
(This is why Download speeds are faster that Upload speeds!)
Question is; Did this Oct 16th Auction include thes needed lower frequencies?
And if not, WHY? (5 G is just LTE Advanced Rev. 12 or above)
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franklin
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Discussion 7 : 15 Nov 2012 at 09.227
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What it all boils down to is greed and the quest for money, pure and simple. There is never even any mention of the customer and their needs! In the meantime the monopolized sub-sub-par “service” (?) leaves the user hanging with no alternative. It has always been perfectly clear why Thailand won’t allow foreign service providers in the country; because they would actually service and provide! And this doesn’t even embarrass Thailand?!
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rebel4ever
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Discussion 6 : 15 Nov 2012 at 08.426
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Okay, understood, I will not buy my first cellphone: I wait for 5G. Meanwhile I keep my home phone and tam tam drums...
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Deedy
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Discussion 5 : 15 Nov 2012 at 07.485
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When you have 45Mhz to auction, a 15Mhz maximum per bidder, and three bidders, how are you supposed to make the auction, "free, fair, and competitive"? The only way is to remove the maximum which means you could theoretically have one operator buying all the spectrum and thus being the only 3G provider. In fairness, the ombudsman must do this and the court must rule given the typically vague wording of the constitution with regards to what "free, fair, and competitive" means. Hopefully, the court will apply the normal Thai judicial "legal leeway" in its decision and we can start catching up with Laos.
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