Satellite Licences Open To All: NBTC

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Satellite licences open to all

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's telecom committee has opened the door for any Thai companies to apply for a licence to operate a satellite business.

Committee chairman Settapong Malisuwan said yesterday that the panel had concluded that this licence falls under the NBTC's existing regulations on the granting of Type 3 licences, so any firm could apply.

However, the committee has yet to finalise the licence fee. Applicants will have to pay either a fixed fee to be determined later or the normal licence fee of 2 per cent of annual revenue. The committee has also yet to finalise the licence's validity period.

To be eligible for a satellite network provider licence, an applicant must be a Thai entity as defined by the 2001 Telecom Business Act, which caps the maximum foreign shareholding in a local telecom operator at 49.99 per cent. The other qualifications are compliance with the NBTC's regulations on the granting of Type 3 licences, which are for large network owners.

Settapong said applicants needed to request a separate licence for each of their satellites.

He added that those wanting to enter the satellite business had to get the Information and Communications Technology Ministry to seek orbital slots for them, as it is the ministry, not the NBTC, that represents Thailand in coordinating with the International Telecommuni-cation Union on reserving slots.

Settapong has said the telecom committee does not need to hold a public hearing on the regulations on this satellite business licence.

Lone applicant

He added that so far the satellite operator Thaicom is the only company that has requested this licence. He has asked the NBTC office to examine its qualifications.

Thaicom is waiting for the licence to operate the interim satellite it has placed at the 120 degrees east longitude orbital slot jointly with Hong Kong's Asia Satellite Telecommunica-tion (AsiaSat). The jointly owned and operated AsiaSat6/Thaicom 7 satellite will be launched into the 120 degrees slot in 2014.

Settapong said applicants for this satellite network provider licence must also agree to the provision that pertinent regulations are subject to change in the future.

The telecom committee debated whether this licence was a new type that needed new regulations or could be issued under existing Type 3 regulations. It concluded that the latter was the case.

The NBTC's satellite subcommittee has yet to finalise regulations on the other two types of satellite licences, one for providing transponder-signal uplink-downlink service and the other for resellers of satellite-transponder bandwidth.

Settapong said those regulations were to be completed next month.

Under the Frequency Allocation Law, licence applicants that will need to use a spectrum will have to bid for that spectrum. Applicants for the satellite network provider licence have no such need. However, applicants for uplink-downlink licences will be required to bid for a spectrum licence, given that they will need to use the spectrum for this service.

Settapong said the satellite subcommittee had yet to come to a conclusion on the auction method for those seeking uplink-downlink licences.

-- The Nation 2012-06-13