CAT board, management back off from lawsuit threat
The board and management of CAT Telecom made a last-minute decision to drop its plan to sue the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) over today's 1800-MHz spectrum auctions.
The state telecom said the 4G auctions were in accordance with the government's policy of stimulating the country's economy. In addition, the cabinet already approved the auction design of the 1800-MHz auctions.
Col Sanpachai Huvananda, CAT's acting president, said management finally decided to support the auctions after considering all the benefits.
The NBTC's telecom committee yesterday approved CAT's proposal to use 20 MHz of unused bandwidth on the 1800-MHz spectrum, now owned by Total Access Communication Plc (DTAC), to provide its own 4G service. However, the regulator granted CAT only three years until 2018 to provide 4G service on the spectrum instead of the 10 years it requested, as CAT's concession with DTAC expires in 2018.
The NBTC's move was seen as a barter deal, giving CAT permission to use the unused bandwidth in exchange for dropping its lawsuit regarding today's 1800-MHz spectrum auctions.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said if CAT wanted to use the unused bandwidth on the 1800-MHz spectrum for 10 years, until 2025, the state telecom would be required to submit more details to the regulator for further consideration.