The labour union and management of the state telecommunications enterprise TOT are on the verge of taking legal action against the telecommunications regulator over the coming 4G auction.
The 4G auction planned for Nov 12 may be delayed as a result of this legal action.
This information was provided by a high-ranking source at Thailand's telecommunications regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), who asked not to be named.
As a strategy to placate TOT and its labour union, TOT may be allowed to develop a 4G network.
TOT currently operates a 3G broadband service but has only 100,000 subscribers.
TOT also holds 64 MHz of bandwidth on the 2300-MHz spectrum that remains unused.
"The proposal to allow TOT to operate 4G on the 2300-MHz band is meant to ease conflict between the TOT and NBTC over the 4G spectrum auctions," the source said.
The root of the conflict lies in spectrum ownership claims made by the state enterprise .
TOT's labour union has claimed the regulator NBTC has no authority to auction the 20 MHz of bandwidth because TOT still has the right to operate the frequency after its concession with Advanced Info Service (AIS) expires on Sept 30.
If TOT operated a 4G network, it could earn more revenue following the expiration of the AIS concession.
However, even if the proposal was approved, the source believed TOT would still take legal action against the planned 4G auctions, the source said.