The government should develop a strategic master plan for telecommunications and broadcasting frequencies to ensure efficient use of limited frequency resources, says ICT Minister Pornchai Rujiprapa.
"The idea will be proposed to the national broadband committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, at a meeting next week," he said.
If the proposal gets a green light from the panel, the ICT Ministry will submit the plan to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha for his endorsement, Mr Pornchai said.
The master plan aims for clarity in reallocation of telecom and broadcasting spectra and would include all spectrum ranges from 470 to 2600 megahertz.
Mr Pornchai said the ICT Ministry, as a supervisor of TOT and CAT Telecom, would negotiate with the two state telecom enterprises on returning their unused frequencies after the expiry of concessions to prepare for the reallocation.
Earlier, TOT and CAT reiterated that they had the right to hold the frequencies after the concessions expire.
TOT holds 64 MHz of the 2300-MHz spectrum that is now unused.
TOT wants to keep this bandwidth, saying it needs to have its own frequencies to provide telecom services and create its own revenue.
Mr Pornchai acknowledged that TOT had lobbied him to be able to keep 17.5 MHz of bandwidth on the 900-MHz spectrum after its 2G mobile concession with mobile leader AIS ends in September.
The 900-MHz spectrum has been designated for auctions in December to provide fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband service.
"Personally, I disagreed with TOT's intention because the state enterprise focused only on its own benefit," Mr Pornchai said.
But he said the government should pay compensation to state enterprises for their returned bandwidth.