The 3G spectrum auction was carried out under the Frequency Allocation Act of 2010, not the e-auction rules cited by some critics, Suthipol Thaweechaikarn, a member of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said on Friday.
Article 45 of the law clearly stipulates that the auction must be held in line with the conditions, regulations and timeframe set by the NBTC, he said.
Mr Suthipol insisted that NBTC would not revoke the auction even though the e-auction committee at the Ministry of Finance had sent a letter to NBTC, warning that the auction might have violated the law.
The auction outcome could not be revoked as the NBTC could well face lawsuits as a consequence, he added.
“The 3G spectrum auction is something new and society might have some questions about it," Mr Suthipol said.
“I insist that there was no political interference in the bidding. NBTC members work with pure hearts and we have finally suceeded,” Mr Suthipol said, adding that he was ready to clarify the 3G auction at any stage.
He said society was under the misapprehension that the NBTC had cut the starting price for bidding from a figure 6.44 billion baht proposed by an academic at Chulalongkorn University to 4.5 billion, causing 17 billion baht in damage to the country.
In fact, the academic proposed a starting price of 4.31 billion baht, not 6.44 billion as many people thought. The NBTC considered a starting price of 4.5 billion baht was more suitable, he added.