The country's first auction for the right to use satellite orbital slots, which was scrapped in August, appears to be going nowhere in the near future as long as SET-listed Thaicom is still the sole prospective contender in the eyes of the authorities.
On Aug 18, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) board decided to scrap the auction scheduled to take place on Aug 28 after Thaicom through its wholly owned firm, TC Space Connect, was the only contender of the event.
The regulator indicated that participation of only one contender in the auction cannot create fair competition.
With only one contender in the auction, authorities were believed to be uneasy about holding the event to allocate the orbital slots, although Thaicom is keen to participate as its 30-year satellite operating concession expired in September.
In fact, the Aug 28 auction was already postponed from the original schedule on July 24, as the NBTC wanted to give more time for interested parties to join in after TC Space Connect was the sole contender in the auction.
Thaicom, formerly known as Shin Satellite Plc, was founded by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 1991. It was the first company to provide commercial satellite services in the country under a concession granted by the Transport Ministry at that time.
SOLE BIDDER
A source at the NBTC board who requested anonymity told the Bangkok Post that Thaicom may be a cause for concern among state agencies as it was founded by Thaksin.
"As long as Thaicom is seen as the only prospective bidder in the auction, it is hard to move ahead to establish the new auction timeline," the source said.
The government also had a plan in mind to allocate some orbital slots to National Telecom (NT) so it can leverage them for public benefits, but NT is not willing to deal with the matter, the source said.
Regarding the auction, four satellite orbital slot packages were put up for bidding.
The first package consisted of 50.5°East and 51°E orbital slots with a reserve price of 677 million baht; the second was 78.5°E with a reserve price of 366.4 million; the third was 119.5°E and 120°E at 393 million; and the last was for 126°E and 142°E with a reserve price of 364.6 million.
The original auction conditions indicated that even if there is only one bidder in the auction, the auction can be carried out.
But on Aug 18, the NBTC board passed a resolution in the morning to amend this condition by stipulating that the auction cannot happen if there is only one bidder participating. And in the afternoon, it resolved to cancel the auction.
The board also assigned the NBTC management to adjust the principle and methods of the auction to find better conditions to attract more bidders.
The source said the Aug 18 resolutions came as a surprise because beforehand the NBTC chairman made it clear that the auction timeline must be adhered to despite having only one bidder.
The NBTC also holds full authority to conduct the auction in compliance with Section 27 of the amended NBTC Act. The amended NBTC law marks the NBTC as the sole agency governing all related satellite businesses in the country, including a role to arrange orbital slot space with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies.
"Although the NBTC management has to adjust the auction conditions in line with the board's assignment, it still has no idea about the timeline of the auction," the source said.
Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn pointed out that the auction should be held after the new NBTC board is formed. The selection process of the new board members is now underway.
The existing board of six remaining commissioners is working under a special extension term granted by the previous military regime, as the board's working term ended in October 2017.
"Basically, governments of any countries may have a policy of keeping some satellite orbital slots for particular purposes and some slots can be reallocated or auctioned off," said Mr Chaiwut.
RISK AHEAD
According to the NBTC source, some orbital slots subject to the auction are now at risk of being taken back by the ITU from Thailand which has not yet deployed satellites to use the slots in the ITU's seven-year coordination timeframe, which ends in early 2022.
"Although these slots are not seen as commercially attractive for satellite business, the loss of orbital slots would make it more difficult for the NBTC to seek the new filing or it may have to queue up for long to get them in the future," the source said.
Technically, one orbital slot could cater to several satellites but good cooperation is needed between satellite operators to ward off disruptive incidents.
Based on the ITU rule, any countries that are granted the right to use any orbital slots need to cooperate with others in adjacent slots to ward off signal intervention, according to the source.