Takorn Tantasith, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission secretary-general, revealed the development yesterday after he met with Prajin at NBTC headquarters.

The move came as the ICT Ministry continues to attempt to solve the redundant roles between itself and the NBTC in overseeing the commercial satellite sector.

Thaicom said in a statement it was pleased to talk to the government on the matter but wanted the government to consider the competition it faced among international satellite operators. It said most of its revenue came from other countries, which contributed to national revenue.

Thaicom’s shares closed at Bt23.30 yesterday, down 0.85 per cent.

Takorn said Thaicom had to pay an annual concession fee to the ministry until 2021 for the two satellites, in addition to the company’s current licence fees it pays to the NBTC.

Takorn said that according to the ICT Ministry’s advisory report on Thaicom, from now until 2021 the company’s satellites with NBTC licences will be regarded as operating under a ministry concession.

Whether the satellites fall under the concession regime or the licensing regime, they will remain under the ministry’s concession until 2021, at which time they will stop paying the concession fee and pay only the licence fee plus the cost of reserving an orbital slot for new satellites and the cost of free satellite transponders for government agencies.

Thaicom’s satellite concessions under the ministry expire in 2021. The Thaicom 7 and 8 satellites are licensed by the NBTC, while iPSTAR (Thaicom 4), Thaicom 5 and 6 operate under ICT Ministry concessions.

The annual licence fee is 5.25 per cent of Thaicom’s gross revenue, while the annual concession fee is 20.5 per cent of its gross revenue.

According to the NBTC, Thaicom 7 paid a licence fee of Bt1 million in 2014 and Bt300 million in 2015. Thaicom 8 was launched last month.

Meanwhile, the NBTC reported to Prajin over its Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund that currently has Bt28.64 billion, of which Bt14.3 billion was borrowed by the government to invest in road projects. The fund is expected to receive an Bt8.5-billion injection this year.

Takorn said the fund would exceed Bt30 billion and would support the government in investing in infrastructure projects.

In another related development, Takorn said Advanced Wireless Network, of Advanced Info Service, which won a licence to use the 900-megahertz spectrum, would pay the first licence instalment of Bt8.04 billion with three bank guarantee notes on June 28. The NBTC will transfer the money to the state.