The three major mobile operators have given mixed responses to the telecom regulator's conditions for the new round of auction for the 900-megahertz spectrum licence.
The telecom committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) last week finalised its draft resolution on the reserve price for a renewed auction of the first slot of 900MHz spectrum. JAS Mobile Broadband initially won that licence last year but defaulted on its payment.
The reserve price will begin at JAS's winning price of 75.7 billion baht, rising in increments of 152 million. The new auction is scheduled for June 24.
Philip Tan, president and group chief executive of InTouch Holdings, the parent firm of Advanced Info Service, said AIS was ready to provide any support required by authorities. He said he was waiting for business case studies conducted by AIS executives to consider whether the company will participate in the new auction.
AIS's existing mobile bandwidth is sufficient for the next three to four years, based on the company's conservative business growth target, said Mr Tan. AIS has 15MHz of bandwidth on the 2100MHz spectrum to provide 3G coverage to over 98% of Thailand's population. The 15-year licence still has another 12 years.
Its newly licensed 15MHz of bandwidth on the 1800MHz spectrum deploys 4G service.
Mr Tan said even though the lower 900MHz spectrum could provide good long-range communications, higher frequencies such as 1800MHz and 2100MHz could accommodate a higher data transfer rate.
Lars Norling, chief executive of Total Access Communication (DTAC), said using JAS's winning bid as the reserve price made it very unlikely DTAC would participate in the re-auction.
"The price is excessive and based on artificial demand from a failed bidder," he said.
However, Mr Norling said True's winning bid should be fairly protected.
DTAC is eager to see more details of the information memorandum to be released by the NBTC. Crucially, proper public hearings must take place to ensure all related stakeholders have an opportunity to express their views, he said.
"We will take a proactive role in providing further comments during the public hearing to support NBTC's re-auction," said Mr Norling.
Suphachai Chearavanont, president and chief executive of True Corporation, the parent firm of True Move, said NBTC's resolution was in accordance with its official announcement and formal notification to True.
Before True makes its first instalment payment for the 900MHz licence, True asked the regulator for a resolution on the re-auction's conditions. The NBTC confirmed the reserve price will begin at JAS's winning bid.
"In order to be fair, the reserve price for the re-auction should start at JAS's winning bid," he said.
However, Mr Suphachai refused to decide now whether True will join the re-auction as the company will wait for the results of a public hearing on the new auction terms and conditions.
Col Settapong Malisuwan, chairman of the NBTC's telecom committee, said he personally believed AIS would join the bidding in June as the company has the least amount of bandwidth and largest number of subscribers.
He said the operator should have at least 50MHz of mobile bandwidth to ensure capacity to serve rapid growth of data traffic and to maintain its leading market share. Thailand will develop into a mobile economy over the next five years.
"Spectrum is a highly valuable and limited resource. We're confident there will be operators to join the new auction," he said.
However, Prawit Leesathapornwongsa, an NBTC commissioner, said the success of the June auction will depend on "the level of the reserve price".
"I believe the reserve price should be set at 3 billion baht lower than the second slot True won for 76.29 billion baht because of signal constraints," he said.
The signal for the first slot will face interference from the 800MHz spectrum, which is used by DTAC under a mobile concession. The first slot covers spectrum from 940-950MHz of bandwidth for downloads and 895-905MHz for uploads. The second slot covers 950-960MHz for downloads and 905-915MHz for uploads.