Meanwhile, share prices of all three listed Thai telecom firms rose yesterday in the wake of Jas’s default while shares of its parent firm, Jasmine International, continued to be suspended from trading.

According to the NBTC, Jas Mobile could face a charge of violating the state auction law against participants bidding unrealistic prices to defeat other bidders and then defaulting on their own bids, causing damage to the state. Violators face imprisonment of 1-3 years and a fine of up to 50 per cent of the winning bid price.

In addition, the NBTC will seek compensation in a civil liability suit against Jas Mobile Broadband whose parent firm Jasmine International yesterday told the Stock Exchange of Thailand it was unable to pay for the licence because it could not obtain a multibillion-baht bank guarantee from an unnamed Chinese partner before Monday’s deadline.

Industry sources said Jasmine had not provided any evidence of its attempt to secure a bank guarantee or a partnership with the unnamed Chinese partner. Pete Bodharamik, the CEO of Jasmine International, said in a letter to the SET that it could not get the bank guarantee for Bt72 billion because the Chinese partner needed more time for approval by the regulatory body.

He said the whole process was expected to be completed around mid-April, exceeding the 90-day deadline set by the NBTC, which could not extend the deadline.

According to Jasmine’s legal adviser, the company would forfeit its deposit of Bt644 million placed with the NBTC because of the payment default.

However, there was no other violation of the auction regulations for the 900MHz spectrum so there should be no other liability for the company.

The SET yesterday continued to impose the “SP” (suspended) sign on the shares of Jasmine International

NBTC commissioner Pravit said the NBTC reserves the right to file lawsuits against the defaulter for depriving the state of licence revenue and for causing damage to the public, as well as seek compensation for the expenses of holding the auction, which cost more than Bt100 million.

In the civil liability lawsuit, he said JASMBB, a unit of Jasmine International, as well as JASMBB shareholders would be the defendants.

Yesterday Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha said the NBTC should re-auction the spectrum slot in light of the default.

Meanwhile, the share prices of three telecom companies – Advanced Info Services, True Corp and Total Access Communication – rose yesterday.

At 2.45pm, DTAC had gained the most – 8.28 per cent – rising to Bt45.75. AIS’ share price moved up 5.65 per cent to Bt187 while True gained 1.25 per cent to Bt8.10. DTAC closed at Bt47.5, up 12.4 per cent, while AIS finished at Bt190, up 7.3 per cent and True was unchanged |at Bt8.