
The board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday unanimously gave its approval to the sale of the rights to use the two unsold satellite slot packages of 50.5° East and 142° E via a combination of two methods -- an open direct award and a beauty contest -- representing a U-turn on the original auction method agreed on.
The move came after no company submitted the bid document on July 23 to take part in the planned auction of the two packages, according to NBTC commissioner Sompop Purivigraipong, who is responsible for the telecom business sector.
The move is also part of the NBTC's efforts to maintain the country's right to use the two unsold slots before their expiration dates, especially the 50.5° E slot which will expire on Nov 27.
Mr Sompop said under the new bidding method, the NBTC will not set the details of the bidding rules, not even the reserve prices, but interested bidders are free to propose the bidding details.
The beauty contest means the bidders with the best proposals will be awarded the licences.
The NBTC will give top priority to bid proposals that focus on efforts to maintain the country's rights to those orbital slots, he added.
Mr Sompop said the draft of the new bidding methods would be finalised within the next two weeks and is expected to be put into effect for the auction in September.
"The board will push hard for the development of the new bidding criteria," he said.
The regulator has also assigned the NBTC office to ask the cabinet within five days about the government's policy relating to the two unsold slot packages.
Mr Sompop said the board also ordered the office to send a letter to the International Telecom Union to seek extensions to the use of both slots, pending the NBTC's planned sale of the two packages.
The board also assigned the office to conduct a study on the possibility that the NBTC itself would be the party that maintains the rights to the unsold slots. The office is required to present the study's results to the NBTC within two weeks.
"It is unclear whether the NBTC can act as an operator to reserve the rights to use the orbital slots by renting a satellite and drag it into the 50.5° E location before the expiry date," he said.
Thailand's right to use the satellite orbit at 50.5° E is at risk of being cancelled after the right expires on Nov 27 this year, as it has long been vacant.
The NBTC originally slated to auction the rights to the two unsold orbital slot packages of 50.5° E and 142° E on Aug 24 in a bid to put the 50.5° E slot to use.
Only two companies, TC Space, a subsidiary of SET-helisted Thaicom, and Prompt Technology, picked up bid envelopes. However, none of them submitted the bid documents by the July 23 deadline.
The two slot packages are unsold from the previous licence auction of the rights to use satellite orbits in 2023.
In 2023, the NBTC held the country's first auction of the use of satellite orbital slots through five packages: 50.5° E and 51° E orbital slots, 78.5° E orbital slot, 119.5° E and 120° E slots, 126° E slot and 142° E slot.