3G In Thailand: Broadcast Panel Member Seeks Explanation Why Spectrum

[webfact]

3G

Broadcast panel member seeks explanation why spectrum

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- A member of the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has requested that the NBTC's telecom committee give a clearer explanation for why it declined to increase the reserve price for slots on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum once it knew there were only three qualified bidders.

Broadcasting committee member Thawatchai Jittrapanun said that if the telecom committee fails to give a good explanation, some broadcasting panel members might not accept the bid results when it is submitted for ratification to the NBTC board.

If many broadcasting committee members decline to accept the bid results, he questioned how the telecom committee could press ahead with the plan to grant licences to the bid winners.

Thawatchai said he needed a clearer explanation why the telecom committee did not raise the reserve price from Bt4.5 billion per slot once it had learned that there were only three qualified bidders.

The NBTC announced the names of the three pre-qualified bidders on October 9 before holding the auction on October 16. The auction outcome has been heavily criticised by many parties for allowing the three winners to snatch the prized nine spectrum slots at what they deem to be too low a price and with hardly any competition in the bidding.

He said if that if possible, both the telecom and broadcasting committees should discuss the matter before the former submits the bid results for the NBTC board's ratification soon.

Four of the five members of the broadcasting committee including Thawatchai have sent queries to NBTC chairman Thares Punsri on the auction outcome. Thawatchai said he believed the opinions expressed to Thares by all four were the same.

However, Thawatchai agreed with the telecom committee's decision to allow the bidders to grab a maximum of three slots each out of the nine slots auctioned. This will enable all bid winners to start their third-generation cellular businesses on an equal basis in terms of spectrum ownership.

The three winners this week jointly refuted allegations of bid collusion among them.

The telecom committee has affirmed that the reserve price was appropriate. If it was too high, this would have discouraged the bidders from taking part in the auction and would have affected spectrum allocation.

The auction has led to a series of legal challenges against the outcome and the NBTC. The National Anti-Corruption Committee last week set up a subcommittee to probe whether the telecom committee's approval of the results violated the State Bidding Act.

Advanced Wireless Network of Advanced Info Service paid a total of Bt14.63 billion for three slots, while DTAC Network of Total Access Communication and True Corp's Real Future paid Bt13.5 billion each for the three slots they acquired.

Of the nine 2.1GHz slots available, six went for exactly the reserve price of Bt4.5 billion each.

-- The Nation 2012-11-02

[Thai at Heart]

Interesting logic. Why didn't he try to gouge the remaining bidders?

Maybe, there were only 3 left because not many bidders wanted them and so demand was low.

[tomross46]

A member of the broadcasting committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has requested that the NBTC's telecom committee give a clearer explanation for why it declined to increase the reserve price for slots on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum once it knew there were only three qualified bidders.

When will the NBTC request and investigation from SEC and NCCC into DTAC, AIS and TRUE into the manipulation of the market? These organization are charging customers for non-existent capabilities and inflating the value of the stock.

[Narratio]

"The three winners this week jointly refuted allegations of bid collusion among them."

Well, what did anybody expect? That they'd look down, shuffle thier feet and admit in shy, embaressed tones "Well yeah, okay, we did it... but we're really sorry! Honest!"

[arthurboy]

For those of you who are currently crying collusion or otherwise - I'm writing about those in this and previous Nation articles - pray tell who were/ are the other potential providers in the fair country of Thailand with a physical, viable network and service operation to boot, to serve the requirements of 3G, or even 2G for that matter?

Wait a while while I think about that.

Ha, ha. None.

So having cleared that up, you also might like to know that TOT, the private? government operator also has a 3G bandwidth slot just to the left - as you you look at the whiteboard - of AIS' allocation.

Time for more conspiracy theories I opine.

[thaicbr]

For those of you who are currently crying collusion or otherwise - I'm writing about those in this and previous Nation articles - pray tell who were/ are the other potential providers in the fair country of Thailand with a physical, viable network and service operation to boot, to serve the requirements of 3G, or even 2G for that matter?

Wait a while while I think about that.

Ha, ha. None.

So having cleared that up, you also might like to know that TOT, the private? government operator also has a 3G bandwidth slot just to the left - as you you look at the whiteboard - of AIS' allocation.

Time for more conspiracy theories I opine.

bUT ais ACTUALLY PAID MORE FOR THOSE SLOTS.... you are correct though in a country that does not allow foreign investment in telecoms (or at least makes it extremely difficult, True only exist because it was made difficult for Orange to continue) Who is there left to buy this spectrum... the 3 current private telecoms companies.. What these thai intellectuals should be asking is where the hell were TOT and Cat... They should have been bidding as well... But we all know that they are incompetent and could not run a National mobile network... even if given over 2 years of no competition .... TOT's failure on the 2100mhz..springs to mind

Edited November 3, 2012 by thaicbr

[arthurboy]

For those of you who are currently crying collusion or otherwise - I'm writing about those in this and previous Nation articles - pray tell who were/ are the other potential providers in the fair country of Thailand with a physical, viable network and service operation to boot, to serve the requirements of 3G, or even 2G for that matter?

Wait a while while I think about that.

Ha, ha. None.

So having cleared that up, you also might like to know that TOT, the private? government operator also has a 3G bandwidth slot just to the left - as you you look at the whiteboard - of AIS' allocation.

Time for more conspiracy theories I opine.

bUT ais ACTUALLY PAID MORE FOR THOSE SLOTS.... you are correct though in a country that does not allow foreign investment in telecoms (or at least makes it extremely difficult, True only exist because it was made difficult for Orange to continue) Who is there left to buy this spectrum... the 3 current private telecoms companies.. What these thai intellectuals should be asking is where the hell were TOT and Cat... They should have been bidding as well... But we all know that they are incompetent and could not run a National mobile network... even if given over 2 years of no competition .... TOT's failure on the 2100mhz..springs to mind

Easy, more working liquidity - capital to spend - and don't forget none of the current operators are charities, so have investors to answer to. TOT and Cat, have both ridden on the back of all three corporate operators for years.

Imagine how much of that combined revenue sharing has contributed to someone's condo dream in...name your country.

In the meantime, let's get in on. After all, it's rock and roll baby, isn't it?

[hellodolly]

For a moment there I forgot I was in Thailand and we were going to get 3G.

I now realize I am in Thailand and they are working on another way to keep 3G out of the country.

[Thai at Heart]

They can't accept the reality of a constrained market. Only a year or so ago they were talking about casing dtac under foreign ownership rules.

Who really wants to invest in this system? 3 players, that's it.

[Keesters]

once it knew there were only three qualified bidders

Just HOW MANY bidders did they expect? 10, 20, 50, 100! Wasn't it 5 asked, 3 qualified. If 5 had qualified would it have made much difference to the outcome. I don't think so. Aren't they 'Crying over spilt milk'.

Just get on with it and give the people of Thailand 3G. My 3G phone is over 2 years old and still hasn't been used in that mode.

[tomross46]

They can't accept the reality of a constrained market. Only a year or so ago they were talking about casing dtac under foreign ownership rules.

Who really wants to invest in this system? 3 players, that's it.

I do not understand. Could some one please explain to me why DTAC is foreigh owned and AIS is not. Many years ago AIS was sold to a company in Singapore operated by the wife of the PM, of Singapore. Would that not make AIS foreignh owned?

[whybother]

once it knew there were only three qualified bidders

Just HOW MANY bidders did they expect? 10, 20, 50, 100! Wasn't it 5 asked, 3 qualified. If 5 had qualified would it have made much difference to the outcome. I don't think so. Aren't they 'Crying over spilt milk'.

Just get on with it and give the people of Thailand 3G. My 3G phone is over 2 years old and still hasn't been used in that mode.

Apparently, there were 17 that applied.

[lomatopo]

Maybe he should focus on his job on the broadcasting committee? ( Maybe they're not sharing the 15% across committees? ) Why does True have, effectively, a monopoly on national cable and satellite services?

The more nationalistic of Thais feel both AIS and DTAC are foreign owned; who, when, where and shirt color dependent. AIS and DTAC are profitable, True loses money reliably, quarter in/quarter out.

True is yellow, AIS red and DTAC, blue I guess, but not "that blue".

TOT and Cat, have both ridden on the back of all three corporate operators for years.

Imagine how much of that combined revenue sharing has contributed to someone's condo dream in...name your country.

Yes, DTAC, AIS and True pay (OK, they're supposed to be paying ), on average, 27% of their revenue to TOT or CAT as concession fees. That gravy train is ending over the next 1 to 6 years.

Edited November 4, 2012 by lomatopo

[Keesters]

once it knew there were only three qualified bidders

Just HOW MANY bidders did they expect? 10, 20, 50, 100! Wasn't it 5 asked, 3 qualified. If 5 had qualified would it have made much difference to the outcome. I don't think so. Aren't they 'Crying over spilt milk'.

Just get on with it and give the people of Thailand 3G. My 3G phone is over 2 years old and still hasn't been used in that mode.

Apparently, there were 17 that applied.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/593250-nbtc-submits-3g-auction-documents-for-examination/ talks about 17 applied but nobody seems to believe them believing it was 17 who asked for documents. I'd like to see a list of the companies that submitted documents and failed pre-auction qualification. I recall reading about one who failed qualification but can't find the link to confirm. There is absolutely no way 17 qualified to take part in the auction and that should have been known at the time the auction was set up. To complain about it now is typical Thai in shutting the barn door AFTER the horse has bolted.

Edited November 5, 2012 by Keesters

[lomatopo]

It was reported that there were 17 applications submitted on/about August 27, 2012.

I confess I can't any detail on those, but I only looked for a minute or two.

I can only imagine that 14 of those applications came from entities which have no telecomms experience, maybe didn't have enough capitalization, employees, money for deposits, any proven record of being able to manage a national telecomms network for millions of subscribers, etc.

Just found this from 21 Sep 2012:

As of last Friday, 15 companies from nine business groups had picked up 3G application forms.

They include three each from AIS and True Corporation and two each from units of DTAC and Jasmine Telecom.

The rest are BB Connect of the Benchachinda Group, the former owner of DTAC; Cable Thai Holding, a cable TV operator owned by Wichai Thongtang, a former lawyer of Thaksin Shinawatra; ACT Mobile, a subsidiary of TOT Plc; Jaya Soft Vision, a subsidiary of the telecom solutions firm JRW Utility; and Victory Motor of Yuthana Phothasuthon.

The 3G application forms will be available for interested companies to pick up until next Thursday and must be submitted by next Friday.

The NBTC will announce the qualified bidders on Oct 10.

Disqualified firms can appeal before the auction takes place.

-------------------------

And this from 5 Oct 2012

Firms line up for 3G broadband auction

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Ian Chen

A total of 17 companies have picked up application forms for Thailand’s imminent third-generation (3G) auction for the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, one month after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s notice of availability.

However, it is widely expected by industry observers that only three major mobile operators _ Advance Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move, will participate in the bid.

As of yesterday _ the last day for interested companies to pick up the forms _ 17 companies from 11 groups had picked up 3G application forms.

They include three companies each from the AIS and True Corporation groups, and two companies each from DTAC and Jasmine International.

The other companies are ACT Mobile, a subsidiary of TOT Plc; BB Connect of the Benchachinda Group, the former owner of DTAC; Cable Thai Holding, a cable TV operator owned by Wichai Thongtang, a former lawyer of Thaksin Shinawatra; Jaya Soft Vision, a subsidiary of the telecommunications solutions firm JRW Utility; Victory Motor, owned by Yuthana Phothasuthon; Symphony Communication; and Tantawan Telecommunication.

Companies that participate in the 3G spectrum auction must submit their application forms by 4.30pm today.

The NBTC will announce the qualified bidders on Oct 9.

Edited November 5, 2012 by lomatopo

[Keesters]

OK so 17 companies picked up the forms. But how many submitted them? I'd still reckon it being not more than 5 who thought they might qualify and gave it a go. And all but 3 of those failed to meet the requirements. All of which should have been known to the NBTC months ago. Just who did they think would bid? To complain now shows they did little thinking in the past.

[MaxLee]

It was reported that there were 17 applications submitted on/about August 27, 2012.

I confess I can't any detail on those, but I only looked for a minute or two.

I can only imagine that 14 of those applications came from entities which have no telecomms experience, maybe didn't have enough capitalization, employees, money for deposits, any proven record of being able to manage a national telecomms network for millions of subscribers, etc.

Just found this from 21 Sep 2012:

As of last Friday, 15 companies from nine business groups had picked up 3G application forms.

They include three each from AIS and True Corporation and two each from units of DTAC and Jasmine Telecom.

The rest are BB Connect of the Benchachinda Group, the former owner of DTAC; Cable Thai Holding, a cable TV operator owned by Wichai Thongtang, a former lawyer of Thaksin Shinawatra; ACT Mobile, a subsidiary of TOT Plc; Jaya Soft Vision, a subsidiary of the telecom solutions firm JRW Utility; and Victory Motor of Yuthana Phothasuthon.

The 3G application forms will be available for interested companies to pick up until next Thursday and must be submitted by next Friday.

The NBTC will announce the qualified bidders on Oct 10.

Disqualified firms can appeal before the auction takes place.

-------------------------

And this from 5 Oct 2012

Firms line up for 3G broadband auction

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Ian Chen

A total of 17 companies have picked up application forms for Thailand’s imminent third-generation (3G) auction for the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, one month after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission’s notice of availability.

However, it is widely expected by industry observers that only three major mobile operators _ Advance Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC) and True Move, will participate in the bid.

As of yesterday _ the last day for interested companies to pick up the forms _ 17 companies from 11 groups had picked up 3G application forms.

They include three companies each from the AIS and True Corporation groups, and two companies each from DTAC and Jasmine International.

The other companies are ACT Mobile, a subsidiary of TOT Plc; BB Connect of the Benchachinda Group, the former owner of DTAC; Cable Thai Holding, a cable TV operator owned by Wichai Thongtang, a former lawyer of Thaksin Shinawatra; Jaya Soft Vision, a subsidiary of the telecommunications solutions firm JRW Utility; Victory Motor, owned by Yuthana Phothasuthon; Symphony Communication; and Tantawan Telecommunication.

Companies that participate in the 3G spectrum auction must submit their application forms by 4.30pm today.

The NBTC will announce the qualified bidders on Oct 9.

And many months later, we will have following scenario:

The Auction is going to be reviewed and reviewed and reviewed until no ends, and that can take another 6 months, just in order for the XXXXXXtimes Finalization process to be proceeded, which will take another 6 months, until people come to an agreement,... but wait. they can't come into an agreement, because something is wrong again, and so called Anti-corruption groups that are established by the same corruption ruling parties, are going to investigate again, which will take another 6 months,

and that crap goes on, until we have another change of rules and regulation, in which they cannot "find any evidence or are scared to speak up, or whatever", so the finalization process for the license is INOFFICIALLY agreed upon, but that will take another 6 months, until it's officially finalized, ... but again something is wrong with the finalization process, so in other words, NOTHING is officially agreed upon on distributing the licenses, because AGAIN something went wrong with the investigation process, and that will take another 6 months, until we get to an informal agreement for the license distribution, which will take another 6 months, until it goes under another so called investigation ,.... this investigation will take another 6 months until those fools make up their minds and proceed to Finalization process Number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

....... and you know the rest of the story.....