Deputy Prime Minister Prajin Juntong this week met with the NBTC to discuss the roadmap for spectrum reallocation including TOT and CAT Telecom's proposals to keep spectra for their own use after their concessions end.
ACM Prajin fully supports the NBTC's 4G auctions plans for both the 1800- and 900-MHz spectra, which will be held in November and December, respectively.
He said a conclusion on TOT and CAT's proposals could be reached this month in order to end months of confusion before the 4G auctions took place.
Mr Uttama also said the ICT Ministry would next week submit for cabinet consideration CAT's proposal to return 5 MHz of the 1800-MHz spectrum, now used by DTAC, to the NBTC for auction.
If the return of the unused 5 MHz portion of the 1800-MHz spectrum to be included in the 4G auction in November can proceed as planned, the amount of bandwidth for the 1800-MHz auction will increase to 30 MHz, split into two blocks of 15 MHz each.
The NBTC initially planned to auction 25 MHz of bandwidth for the 1800-spectrum auction, containing 12.5 MHz each.
However, the NBTC has set next Friday as the deadline for CAT to hand over the 5-MHz portion, otherwise the regulator will have to stick to the original auction plan of 25 MHz.