The National Telecommunications Commission intends to allocate the third-generation 2.1-gigahertz wireless broadband spectrum licences this year after a lengthy delay.
Commissioner Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn yesterday said the NTC expected to conclude a licensing plan within the next three months and issue the licences by year-end.
He said the watchdog would also use last Friday's Supreme Court verdict in the assets-seizure case of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in its vetting of its existing plan. This will be to ensure the licensing does not contravene any laws and promotes fair competition among 3G players.
In that ruling, the fugitive ex-PM was found to have abused his power during his tenure to benefit the telecom businesses of his Shin Corp, resulting in massive damage to the state.
Shin's telecom flagship, Advanced Info Service (AIS), and other cellular service providers are eager to bid for the NTC's 3G licences.
AIS submitted a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, saying while the Supreme Court's ruling listed undertakings between state agencies and AIS, specifically referring to the company by name, it had not been a defendant in the case, and thus the verdict was not binding on it.
Meanwhile, the four new NTC commissioners assumed office yesterday. They are Bandhoon Supakavanich, Pana Thongmeearkom, Natee Sukonrat and Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn.
Bandhoon said the NTC must think carefully about whether auctioning the licences would pass a burden onto consumers, while Natee said the licensing must be made with consumer benefits and national security in mind.
Pana said the licensing should focus on protecting consumers, while Suranan said the plan should take into account any possible effects on state agencies' telecom concessions, given that this signalled the industry was transitioning from a concession system to a licensing system.
The NTC's existing 3G-licensing plan stipulates auctioning four licences - one featuring a 15-megahertz bandwidth and each of the others 10MHz - but it has yet to finalise the plan.
Many private parties oppose a licence auction, saying such a method would give the upper hand to cash-rich bidders.
Another criticism is granting licences would pave the way for incumbent private telecom operators, which could win the licences and migrate their customers away from state concessions, to save on huge regulatory costs at the expense of the owners of the state concessions.
State concessions cost mobile operators an average of 25 per cent of their annual gross revenue, while the licence fees will cost each of them about 6 per cent of their revenue.
Prasit said the seven NTC commissioners would convene next week to select a chairman.
