Anudith Backs Nbtc, Says 3G Auction Complied With Relevant Regulations: Thailand

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Anudith backs NBTC, says 3G auction complied with relevant regulations

USANEE MONGKOLPORN

THE NATION

Tokyo

BANGKOK: -- Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap said he strongly |supported the National Broad-casting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) over its recent auction of the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum to grant spectrum licences.

He said the auction process was according to relevant laws and regulations. The auction and the licensing will help expand broadband accessibility in Thailand, he added.

"Thailand needs to move ahead in terms of ICT development," Anudith said.

The minister intends to push Thailand's ICT competitiveness ranking back to 34th place in 2015, the highest-ever ranking achieved in 2006, and this could be possible through the upcoming 3G-2.1GHz service.

He said that in his first year in office, he was at the learning stage but in his second year, he would focus on improving the country's ICT competitiveness ranking.

In the World Competitiveness Ranking 2011-2012, Thailand was ranked 94th in terms of fixed telephone lines per 100 population and 70th in mobile phone subscription per 100 population. For broadband Internet subscription, it was ranked 77th.

The NBTC's telecom committee approved the bids of the three bidders - DTAC Network (DTN) of Total Access Communication, Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) of Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Real Future of True Corp - on October 18.

However, it has yet to grant them the licences. To tone down mounting criticism on the lack of competition among the three bidders in the auction, the telecom committee set up a panel last week to probe alleged bid collusion. The probe will be completed in the next 15 days. If no irregularity is found, the telecom committee will consider granting them the licences. As per the auction terms, it will grant the licences within 90 days after the auction outcome approval.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC)'s subcommittee will scrutinise the telecom committee if its approval of the bid results breaches the State Bidding Act. This follows last week's petition to the NACC by the Senate anti-corruption and good governance committee.

Anudith said this scrutiny is normal legal practice as part of the checks and balances system.

He added that the NBTC must live up to its commitment to make the three bid winners offer low 3G-service fee. He also believes both CAT Telecom and TOT are strong enough to compete with the three bid winners.

TOT has provided the 3G-2.1GHz service for many years but currently has only about 200,000 customers.

Anudith said TOT would set up 5,320 base stations for 2.1GHz nationwide at the end of this year. Some 3,000 have been set up to date. He supported TOT seeking possible local or foreign partnership to bolster its edge. When asked if TOT's possible partner could be its concession holder AIS, Anudith declined to comment on the matter.

AIS has Singapore Telecom as its strategic partner, while DTAC has Norway's Telenor as a strategic partner.

He added that TOT should also look to go beyond providing 3G services in the future, tapping any upcoming advanced technologies.

Over this week, TOT acting president Montchai Noosong said TOT is looking to provide 4G service in the future to differentiate itself from the three bid winners of 3G-2.1GHz spectrum slots.

TOT is also seeking a partnership with one of Japan's major mobile communications service operators, SoftBank, with a view to using its know-how to enhance the state agency's plan to offer fourth-generation cellular broadband service. TOT had previously intended to sign a memorandum of understanding with SoftBank on a technical agreement, but the plan was delayed following the recent resignation of TOT's board.

Anudith said the new TOT board is expected to be appointed this week.

CAT has partnered True Corp since last January in providing the 3G-850MHz service. However, both have yet to complete the joint amendment of the partnership contracts to comply with the Frequency Allocation Act, as ordered by the NBTC in June.

The NBTC ordered CAT and True to jointly revise their network-leasing contracts and those related to wholesaling and resale of bandwidth for 3G-850MHz cellular service in their partnership. The order followed the conclusion of the commission's subcommittee probing the contracts that six items appeared to breach the 2010 Frequency Allocation Act. Article 46 (2) of the law prohibits NBTC licence-holders CAT and TOT from allowing a third party to have full control of their spectrum management.

Another NBTC subcommittee has also probed whether BFKT (Thailand) of True Group is operating its network rental service under the CAT-True 3G-850MHz partnership contracts, which would be in breach of Article 7 of the Telecom Business Act.

-- The Nation 2012-10-29

[asiawatcher]

No-one cares about what a PT Minister thinks or concludes. This is all ancient history and very boring now...

[FOODLOVER]

Of course he did. Surprise.

[thaicbr]

He believes TOT are strong enough hahaha. They have had 2100mhz for over 2 years and only have 3000 cellsites. Right

sent from my ..................#

[TommyD]

here in Laos we already starting with 4G sins last Friday 26 Oct

[stoli]

At this very late point in time, is it possible to just forget 3G and move straight to 4G? Thailand needs desperately to play catch-up.

[indyuk]

My personal view is that Thailand should get the internet working reliably for the whole of Thaland before attempting to implement 3G or 4G or the inevitable 5G to come which clearly is not needed.

It is a blight of the Thai Nation that a million small business men have to put up with internet connections that are offline more hours a day than online. It's absolutely scandalous that the police, Amy, Government and high-so are guaranteed a 24/7 high speed online service while small businesses are banished from modern technology just so that Ministers, MP's and Hi-So yuppies can abuse XG Xpods Xphones and Xtablets while viewing their latest pornography.

This is my Rant. Lets get priorities right and provide service to all for a change.