BANGKOK: Thailand plans to auction 4G mobile phone spectrum by September 2015 possibly at a higher price but at the same conditions that were set before the military government postponed the sale last year, the head of the telecom regulator said on Monday.
The unchanged terms are likely to reassure telecom market leader Advanced Info Service PCL (AIS) which is keen to acquire 4G spectrum. Unlike rivals Total Access Communications and True Corp, AIS does not offer this faster data-enabled service to its subscribers.
Settapong Malisuwan, vice chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, told reporters that the terms for the auction, announced by the civilian government that was overthrown in a military coup in May, were already in line with international standards.
"After the new draft is announced in Royal Gazette, the auction should be held during August to September 2015," he added. The terms include how bidders can qualify, terms of funding and how the government will decide the winners.
The auctions were expected to yield at least 42.9 billion baht ($1.31 billion) in revenue for the government.
Settapong had told reporters over the weekend the regulator may increase the starting price of the auction to "reflect changing economic conditions". The economy avoided a technical recession in April-June, but still shrank 0.1 percent in the first half due to weakening exports and months of political unrest that led to the coup.
The regulator had planned to auction a 25 MHz block on the 1800 MHz spectrum in August and a 17.5 MHz block on the 900MHz band in November.
The military government has said it wants to encourage investment in telecom infrastructure to boost the economy. Mobile phone operators are banking on extra bandwidth for revenue growth in a country where internet penetration remains low at 25 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.