4G: NBTC vows to be hospitable during 900MHz bidding procedure

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4G
NBTC vows to be hospitable during 900MHz bidding procedure
Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The telecom committee of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday agreed to revise the bidding procedure for the December 15 auction of the two licences on the 900 MHz spectrum.

The move comes in the wake of complaints by executives of some of the four bidders in the November 11 auction of licenses on the 1800MHz spectrum who criticised the NBTC for not preparing for the eventuality that the process would drag on for more than one day.

The bidding was supposed to close at 9pm on November 11 but it carried on until late the following evening, forcing the executive bidders to slum it overnight at the uncomfortable auction rooms at the NBTC headquarters. The bidding ended at round 86 .

Takorn Tantasith, secretary general of the NBTC, said the next auction would start at 9am on December 15. If winners do not emerge before 9pm, the bidders would be allowed to take a break until midnight and then another break at 6am until 9am, when the bidding will resume until the winner emerge.

The NBTC will move two auction rooms to the third floor of the NBTC headquarters and two to the eleventh floor. It will provide more comfortable furniture such as sofa beds and other equipment such as TV with DVD player, microwave oven, stationary bike and beverage bar.

However, the auction regulations will not change. The starting price for each 900MHz licence is Bt12.864 billion, which is 80 per cent of the full value of Bt16.08billion. Each round of bidding will take 15 minutes plus five minutes to verify the system.

Meanwhile, the committee agreed to set the bidding prices of the 1800MHz and 900 MHz spectrum as the benchmark for the next round bidding for the 1800MHz and 850MHz in 2018.

The NBTC took Bt80.778 billion for two licenses during the 4G auction of 1800MHz. The value is over 100 per cent of the starting price at Bt15.912 billion for each licence.

"This is the way to ensure that the bidding is fair for all winners though they won the bids at different times," said Takorn.

Takorn said the committee also approved the awarding of a 4G licence to Advanced Wireless Network, a subsidiary of Advanced Info Service, which paid the first instalment of Bt20.493 billion on Monday. The licence will be effective from tomorrow until September 15, 2033 - eighteen years in total.

Takorn said the temporary extension for True Move and Digital Phone to operate the 2G-1800MHz services will expire at midnight tonight. The TrueMove and DPC concession expired in 2013 but the NBTC permitted them to continue serving customers until the 1800mhz auction winners obtained their licences. True Move still has 43,000 existing users and DPC has 380 users who have yet to move to other networks after the concession ends. All the services will be shut down since the spectrum will be awarded to the new bid winners.

Takorn said the NBTC would transfer at least Bt75 billion to the state coffers. This does not include proceeds from the upcoming auction of 900 MHz, which is expected to gain at least Bt30 billion. The total may even exceed Bt100 billion. The current value is Bt13 billion from the second instalment of digital TV channels, Bt2.7 billion from NBTC 's revenue, and Bt40.32 from two licences of the 1800 MHz spectrum.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/NBTC-vows-to-be-hospitable-during-900MHz-bidding-p-30273643.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-25

[casualbiker]

I don't really understand the concept. Surely the highest bid at 9pm is the winner and they choose which slot they want! The second highest bid then wins the remaining slot.