After months of uncertainty, the fourt-generation (4G) auction of two licences for the 1800-megahertz spectrum in November has finally ended up with 15 MHz of bandwidth each for bidding instead of 12.5 MHz.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday announced it will sell a total of 30 MHz of bandwidth on the 1800-MHz spectrum on Nov 11, with each licence of 15 MHz.
Only last week the regulator said it decided to auction only 25 MHz of bandwidth, containing 12.5 MHz each for the two licences, instead of 30 MHz or 15 MHz each.
Takorn Tantasith, the NBTC secretarygeneral, said the regulator officially received a letter from the Information and Communication Technology minister confirming that CAT Telecom can transfer its 5 MHz of bandwidth on the 1800-MHz spectrum for the planned auction in time, as required by the NBTC.
He said a working panel on the publicprivate joint venture concluded on Thursday that CAT can return the unused bandwidth portion and does not require amendments to the concession.
The amendments to the 2G mobile concession between CAT and concessionaire Total Access Communication would need a few months to complete, which will affect the initial auction schedule.
Mr Takorn said the Finance Ministry, the major shareholder of CAT Telecom, officially agreed with CAT's proposal to return the 5 MHz for the auctions.
So far, six companies have picked up bidding documents for the 1800-MHz spectrum auctions.
Bidders must submit bid documents to the NBTC on Sept 30. They have to pay a bidding fee of 500,000 baht each, plus a deposit guarantee worth 5% of the reserve price.
The reserve price of the 1800-MHz bandwidth will start at 15.9 billion baht, representing 80% of the estimated real spectrum value. If there are only two qualified bidders taking part, the NBTC will increase the reserve price to 19.89 billion baht or 100% of the spectrum value.
The NBTC will announce the qualified bidders on Oct 21. The 1800-MHz licences to provide 4G services will be issued to the bid winners on Nov 30.
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