5 get first lot of NBTC network provider licences

GMM Grammy and Cable Thai Holding (CTH) yesterday were among five companies obtaining the first lot of network-provider licences from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) broadcasting committee to operate nationwide service.

The operating licences were issued for the purpose of providing services to broadcasters of cable and satellite TV programmes.

Besides GMM and CTH, the other three receiving licences were Charoen Cable TV, Linear and MSS. It has already granted 35 regional licences and 90 community licences in this category at a fee of 2 per cent of their respective annual revenue.

The broadcasting committee yesterday also approved the granting of an additional 162 permits to radio broadcasters on a trial basis, bringing the total of granted permits to 400 out of the 7,000 radio broadcasters nationwide. These 162 permits are scheduled to be officially issued on Wednesday.

The NBTC will auction the spectrum for terrestrial digital TV broadcasting service midyear. It is now evaluating the spectrum's value and drafting the terms of the auction.