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หัวข้อ : 3G auction date now in doubt (Bangkok post)
วันที่โพสท์ : 19 Oct 2009 14:31 |
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The National Telecommunications Commission now says that staging a 3G licence auction in December is less of a priority than ensuring that the rules are clear so that the auction will be a success.
Gen Choochart Promprasit, the chairman of the telecom regulator, said the priority now was making sure the auction rules are ready in December.
He said the NTC needed to prepare itself to allocate spectrum for the highly anticipated mobile broadband services instead of dealing with a national debate.
The NTC anticipated pressure as the auction neared, he acknowledged.
The regulator has faced criticism in recent weeks for rules that appeared to favour deep-pocketed foreign entities over locally owned telecom companies and the two state enterprises, TOT and CAT Telecom.
Part of the problem, Gen Choochart said, stemmed from the complicated original structure of the telecom industry, particularly the concessions of each operator, which differed in terms of revenue sharing, and the varying financial strength of the operators.
He also believes the regulator is facing pressure to make the 3G licences cheaper, but says lowering the price any further is impossible. The NTC has proposed starting bid prices of 10 billion baht.
He said another public hearing on the auction rules was scheduled for Nov 5. The NTC will present the finished draft to the public, and it will also cover national security concerns and the financial impact on both TOT and CAT from the expected loss of their concession revenues.
Nominees holding stakes beyond the official ceiling for foreign state enterprises will also be discussed.
After the Nov 5 hearing, the NTC will conduct a focus group meeting with top executives of TOT, CAT, mobile phone operators and the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to reach an agreement and complete the final draft before making it an official rule.
He said the NTC could not set an exact date for the auction but would like to have the rules completed by December.
TOT should not look at only one issue regarding 3G licences because private operators could not move their customers out of a network immediately. Migration to a 3G network takes time and might finish after their concessions expire, he said.
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