The NBTC’s telecom committee yesterday did not consider the request. It just approved the draft rules and schedule for the second auction of a 900-megahertz licence, a committee source said.

AIS submitted the request in a confidential urgent letter to the NBTC on Wednesday, indicating that it was willing to pay a fee for using the 900MHz spectrum during this extended remedy period.

The fee would be based on the final bid that Jas Mobile Broadband made to win the 900MHz licence – Bt75.65 billion – in the first auction last December.

AIS had operated its 2G service on this 900MHz spectrum before the NBTC reclaimed it for auction. Jas Mobile won this slot but failed to pay the first instalment of the upfront licence fee.

AIS has 8.4 million subscribers, of whom 8 million are from its subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network but still roam with AIS’s 900MHz network.

AIS has claimed that it now uses only 5MHz of the 900MHz spectrum out of the total 10MHz, so it will pay for only 5MHz.

Meanwhile, the telecom committee proposed a minimum starting bid for the new auction of Bt75.65 billion, said Takorn Tantasit, secretary-general of the NBTC.

Under the proposed auction rules, each bidder can raise the price by Bt152 million for each round until the bidding ends at the same price that Jas Mobile missed paying.

The NBTC will also require bidders to place a bank guarantee for 5 per cent of the minimum bid, or Bt3.78 billion, prior to the auction, as opposed to lodging Bt644 million in cash as in the first auction.

If the winning bidder fails to make the first payment it will be fined Bt11.35 billion or 15 per cent of the starting bid.

If the winner fails to fulfil the initial payment condition on time, the licence will be awarded to the second-highest bidder.

If there is only one bidder, the auction will still go ahead, as the starting price is already high.

The draft rule for the auction bans Jas from entering this bid.

The telecom committee will submit the proposed auction rules for the NBTC’s consideration on Tuesday, and will hold a public hearing on April 22.

Auction participants will be invited from May 13 to June 12, with prospective bidders submitting documents on June 14.

The NBTC will hold the auction on June 24.

The NBTC will call a meeting with Pete Bodharamik, chief executive officer of Jasmine International, on Tuesday to ask for his explanation of Jas Mobile Broadband’s failure to make the initial upfront licence payment by the March 21 deadline, Takorn said.

The commission will ask for more information from Pete on the company’s preparation to bid for the licence and if Jasmine had set a budget for this.

It will examine the stock trading of executives and board directors of Jasmine group.

Its probe will focus on whether Jas actually intended to bid for the licence and will see if there is evidence that Jas really sought financial support from banks for its bid.

The panel will ascertain the |possible damage to NBTC from this case and see if it could affect Jasmine’s businesses that hold NBTC licences.