NBTC holds auction prices

NBTC holds auction prices

The telecom regulator insisted yesterday it would not amend the reserve price of its draft auction of the 1800- and 850-megahertz spectrum slated for auction next year.

At a major public hearing, Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said the auction's design is based on the 2015 auction of 4G licences, especially the reserve prices, and are meant to promote fair competition.

The 1800- and 850MHz spectrum ranges are now operated by Total Access Communication (DTAC) under concessions of state-owned enterprise CAT Telecom, which will expire on Sept 30 next year.

There is 10MHz of bandwidth on the 850MHz spectrum (upload and download), available via one licence, while there are three licences on the 1800MHz spectrum (each containing 30MHz of bandwidth for upload and download). The reserve price for 850MHz is 37.9 billion baht while the 1800MHz licences are 37.4 billion each.

"The 2015 auctions were conducted with the premise the next auction will be based on the winning prices. If we reduce the reserve price, we could risk a legal backlash from the 2015 winners," he said.

Narupon Rattanasamaharn, senior vice-president and head of regulatory affairs for DTAC, said Thailand faces a spectrum shortage because of the rapid growth of mobile internet usage and consumer behaviour shifting toward digital lifestyles.

To prevent a shortage, DTAC proposes the NBTC design the auction with a variety of spectrum block sizes to meet the variety of needs of each bidder. It also suggested setting an overall spectrum cap, which will encourage competition in bidding without having to use the N-1 rule (when the number of bidders is equal to or lower than the number of licences).

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