NBTC hopes to see its master plans published this quarter

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is confident about the success of its plan to reclaim spectra from state agencies for reallocation, chairman Thares Punsri said yesterday.

He also expects that the watchdog will have its master plans for spectrum management, telecommunications and broadcasting published in the Royal Gazette this quarter, to kick-start the process of granting new spectrum licences.

It will hold a nationwide public hearing on the drafts of these three plans on Friday. It intends to auction the long-awaited licences for third-generation cellular service on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum in the third quarter.

After Friday's hearing, the watchdog will focus on completing the details of the spectrum reclamation. Then it will work out the road maps on granting broadcasting and telecom spectrum licences.

According to the draft, the spectrum plan will require state agencies to return their radio frequencies with no expiration date within five years, TV frequencies within 10 years and telecom frequencies within 15 years. Those spectra operating under state-agency concessions will be returned once the concession terms expire.

NBTC vice chairman Natee Sukonrat said the watchdog would complete the plan to bring the TV broadcasting industry into the digital era within the first year after the broadcasting master plan comes into effect and might start trial digital broadcasting in the second year.

Another vice chairman, Settapong Malisuwan, said the NBTC would make a final decision within the next two or three weeks on whether to revoke or revise the regulations preventing foreign dominance of telecom operators.