The Ombudsman will ask the Administrative Court to order an urgent investigation into the 3G auction process and to issue an interim injunction halting the issuing of the licences.
The Ombudsman's Office had received petitions asking that it investigate the operations of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission and the NBTC's Telecom Committee regarding the auction of the 3G 2.1 GHz spectrum on Oct 16.
Ombudsman Office deputy secretary-general and spokesman Raksagecha Chaechai said it was unanimously agreed to ask the Administrative Court to consider whether the auction was conducted freely and fairly under Section 47 of the constitution and the Telecommunications Act of 2010.
If the court agrees to accept the case, the issuing of the 3G licences must be suspended until a ruling is made.
The NBTC auctioned off nine 15-year licences for a total 41.6 billion baht, just 1.1 billion above the minimum price, to the three bidders -- representing mobile operators Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (Dtac) and TrueMove.