He added that there would be no more spectrum auctions under the current commission, whose term will end in October next year.

Under the allocation plan, there will be three spectrum bands waiting for auction: 2.6 gigahertz, 1,800 megahertz and 700MHz.

“We will propose that 45MHz of the 1,800MHz spectrum be put to auction in early 2018, or six months before Total Access Communication’s concession contract with CAT Telecom expires in September 2018,” Takorn said.

The minimum starting bid for the auction should the same as the top bid for the last 1,800MHz auction.

Last year subsidiaries of Advanced Info Service and True Corp tendered the winning bids for 15MHz each on the 1,800MHz spectrum at Bt40.986 billion and Bt39.792 billion.

Total Access Communi-cation (DTAC) is the only cellular-service provider that did not win a licence to the 1,800MHz or 900MHz spectrum at auctions held by the NBTC last year.

Takorn said 144MHz on the 2.6GHz spectrum currently held by MCOT was expected to put up for the auction if the new NBTC bill is passed by the National Legislative Assembly and made effective soon.

According to that bill, the NBTC will be able to reclaim spectra currently under concession contracts or state ownership for reallocation and the state agencies that hold them will be compensated after they release their spectra to the NBTC.

The NBTC plans to put the 2.6GHz spectrum to auction for fourth-generation cellular service, and MCOT has said that it will return part of the spectrum to the commission if it is fully compensated.

Takorn said the NBTC planned to auction the 45MHz on the 700MHz currently used by television channels for reallocation for telecom service in 2020.