The watchdog yesterday also changed the conditions of the 1800MHz auction by selling nine licences each containing 5MHz bandwidth, instead of three with 15MHz bandwidth each as previously planned.

Takorn added that DTAC also asked for a NBTC permit to continue using the 850MHz band for about two years if it wins a 900MHz licence, saying it needs time to smooth the transition to 900MHz service.

In pararell, it will pay the licence upfront fee of the 900MHz.

The starting bid price of the 900MHz licence is Bt37.988 billion. According to a DTAC press release yesterday, the company is currently in dialogue with NBTC regarding the 900MHz spectrum auction and hopes that the auction is planned with due consideration of DTAC’s current 850MHz band concession and the current market conditions.

“As a principle, we do not comment on potential participation until completion of a internal due process,” said its chief executive officer Lars Norling in the release.

Sufficient high-band spectrum

He added that DTAC would go through the revised 1800MHz auction rules and announce its official position later. But for the time being, it has kept its position unchanged as it has sufficient high-band spectrum.

Recently DTAC announced that it was not keen on bidding for the 1800MHz, citing enough high bandwidth. However, the company is keen on acquiring low spectrum bands.

The NBTC had been adjusting the auction terms and conditions and the timeframes of both 900MHz and 1800MHz, following the failure of the three major telecom operators to submit bid application for 1800MHz licences on the deadline of June 15. They all cited the possession of sufficient bandwidth and that some auction rules did not encourage their participation.

The watchdog’s board yesterday also approved the NBTC to hold a public hearing on its http://www.nbtc.go.th/ website on the plan to auction nine licences of 1800MHz. The online hearing will be held from June 26 to 28.

After that the hearing result will be presented to the board on July 2. The board will also consider the draft auction terms and conditions of the 900MHz licence on the same day.

The NBTC will auction nine licences of the 1800MHz, each containing 5MHz bandwidth. The starting price is Bt12.486 billion per licence.

One bidder can bid for a maximum four licences.

Initially it had planned to sell three licences of the 1800MHz, each containing 15MHz, with the starting price of Bt37.457 billion per licence.

In the recently public hearing on the 1800MHz auction, DTAC and some other attendants proposed that the watchdog split the 1800MHz licences into nine to make it much more suitable for them to take part in the bid.

Takorn has expected that many prospective bidders will enter the 1800MHz licence auction after the change to nine licences.

The NBTC board also approved the new auction timeframes on both bands.

Schedules

The NBTC will auction the 900MHz licence on August 18 and the 1800MHz licences on August 19, changing from the previous dates of August 4 and August 10, respectively.

The NBTC will make the available bid documents of both 1800MHz and 900MHz bands from July 6 to August 7 with the bid submission date set for August 8. It will announce names of the qualified bidders on August 15.

The bid winner of a 900MHz licence will have to establish a system to prevent a possible jam between this band and that allocated for providing communications system on a high speed train.

Takorn said that the bid winner can deduct the cost of installing this jam prevention system from the licence upfront fee, but not exceeding Bt2 billion.

CAT Telecom has granted the 1800MHz and 850 MHz bands to DTAC to operate under its concession. The concession will expire on September 15.

After the concession has ended , the NBTC will upgrade this 850MHz block to become the 900MHz block and put the later in this auction.