NBTC panel to meet on AIS's 2G clients COMPANY WANTS DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR SHUTDOWN OF 900MHZ - Click for clip >>
THE NATION Issued date 8 January 2016
USANEE MONGKOLPORN
THE NATION
THE NATIONAL Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) telecom committee will convene next week to seek ways to prevent 11 million subscribers to Advanced Info Service's 2G-900MHz mobile-phone service from being affected once the company shuts it down, committee member Prasert Silphiphat said.
AIS asked the regulator on Monday to extend the shutdown deadline by another 180 days. The NBTC originally resolved that AIS had to disconnect the service once either of the two licences to the 900-megahertz spectrum won at auction last month was granted.
AIS said it had requested the deadline extension to prevent a service disruption while it migrates 11 million subscribers of its secondgeneration cellular service on 900MHz to the network of its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network. Of those 11 million subscribers, 1 million are in the AIS network and the rest are in the AWN network but still roam with AIS's 900MHz network.
Prasert said the telecom committee would consider the AIS request on Tuesday.
One possible solution is that AIS still has to shut down the service once one of the 900MHz licences is granted, but the 1 million 2G users on AIS's network will be given some time to transfer their mobile-phone numbers to other networks. If the NBTC declines to grant such time to them, their phone numbers will be reclaimed by the commission once the 2G service is shut down.
In talks with DTAC
He added that AIS was also in talks with Total Access Communication on leasing DTAC's bandwidth on the 850MHz spectrum to provide roaming service to AIS 2G customers.
After AIS's 2G-900MHz concession ended last September, the NBTC reclaimed the spectrum for auction of two licences last month. True Corp and Jasmine International emerged as the winners.
After failing to win a licence, AIS quickly offered subsidised handsets to its 11 million 2G customers to encourage them to migrate to AWN, which operates on the 2.1-gigahertz and 1,800MHz spectra under the NBTC licensing regime.
Earlier the NBTC telecom committee had ordered AIS to shut down the 900MHz service on December 22 last year, but it later changed the shutdown date to whenever one of the two 900MHz licences was awarded.
So far that has not happened, pending payment of the first instalment of the upfront licence fee. Both bid winners are expected to pay up this month.
In its request for a deadline extension, AIS reminded the NBTC that the telecom committee had thus far given the company very little time to protect consumers from service disruption after the end of its concession last September.
In stark contrast, TrueMove and Digital Phone Co were allowed to continue serving their 1,800MHz customers from the end of their concessions in September 2013 until recently to give it time to migrate customers to other networks.
AIS pointed out that even if the bid winners obtained their licences now, they were unlikely to be able to start offering their 4G-900MHz service immediately but would need time to prepare.
Therefore, if the NBTC does not change the switch-off deadline, 11 million AIS customers will be affected.