Thai mobile operator Jasmine International failed to show up at the telecom regulator on 21 March in time for the deadline to make its first instalment on the THB 75.57 billion (USD 2.1 billion) 4G mobile licence it won late last year. Jasmine said it expected financial support from a Chinese partner with backing from a Chinese commercial bank.
This unnamed "sizeable operator", which was interested in investing in Jas Mobile, was still awaiting approval from Chinese regulators for the investment, and this is not expected to come until mid-April. As a result Jas was unable to obtain the THB 72 billion bank guarantee needed to secure the licence from the NBTC.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) said that a new round of bidding will be held in several months' time, starting from Jasmine's historically-high winning price. If no bidder appears this time, the 10 MHz slot on the 900 MHz band will be put on hold for one year, after which another auction will be rescheduled.
NBTC executives told reporters that the new plan will ensure fairness for the auction's other winner True, the third largest mobile carrier by customers in Thailand, which made its first instalment and submitted bank guarantees for the remaining amount earlier this month. True's winning price was THB 76.3 billion. It also won a license for the 15 MHz slot on the 1800MHz band at a price of THB 39.8 billion.
The country's two larger carriers, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Total Access Communication (TAC), both dropped out of the auction in December, saying prices had surged beyond profitable levels.
