Thailand needs to come up with a comprehensive road map for its telecom sector by synchronising the upcoming auction of the 3G (third-generation) mobile licences with the government's latest "K2" reform proposal, according to a visiting expert in information and communications technology (ICT).
Jayesh Easwaramony, a vice president of US-based consultant firm Frost & Sullivan, said the 3G licence auction should go ahead in September as scheduled by the Thai National Telecom Commission (NTC) because it was long overdue.
However, Thai authorities also needed to clarify key elements of the new reform proposal concerning the current 2G (second-generation) mobile concessions, which expire in the next three to eight years.
The new 3G licences will impact these 2G concessions because of migration of users and other factors.
"Phase A of the 'K2' reform plan should be clarified by the year-end [at the latest] so that investors are assured of the pricing, use of existing 2G infrastructure, etc" once concessions are replaced with new licences, Easwaramony said.
The ICT expert said it would have been better if Thai authorities could have reformed the telecom sector's 2G mobile concessions before issuing the newer 3G licences.
Such a scenario is now unlikely because the NTC is going ahead with its September 3G licence auction.
As a result, authorities now have to specify what to do with the current 2G radio frequencies as well as the existing infrastructure, such as tens of thousands of telecom towers and base stations already invested by operators.
If these critical uncertainties were removed by authorities, the government's reform plan could be implemented along with the September auction of new 3G licenses.
It would take at least six months for the private sector to roll out the first stage of new 3G services, so there was sufficient time for implementation of the reform plan involving 2G concessions.
Speaking at yesterday's summit on the Thai telecom industry, held by Frost & Sullivan, Easwaramony also suggested that Thai authorities needed to optimise both 3G and 2G licence fees while resolving disputes under the current 2G concessions.
These disputes between TOT/CAT and private firms involve potential liabilities in excess of Bt100 billion.
In addition, he voiced concern about the future of TOT and CAT Telecom once 2G concessions end and both state-owned firms no longer have concession fees as revenues.
According to the telecom law, both would be only operators with licences from the NTC.
TOT and CAT Telecom currently have a combined market share of only 3 per cent, but the number of their employees is greater than the private operators' combined.
Easwaramony said merger and privatisation of the two state entities were among the solutions once the existing 2G concessions end.