The Telecom Committee of Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission has postponed the planned 900 MHz spectrum auction to 15 December, local newspaper The Nation reports. The auction was initially announced for 12 November. The auction date of 11 November for two licences in the 1,800 MHz spectrum remains unchanged.
Four companies pre-qualified for the 900 MHz tender. These are AIS's Advanced Wireless Network; Dtac TriNet Network, a unit of Total Access Communication; True Move H Universal Communication; and Jasmine International's Jas Mobile unit. The same four companies are qualified to bid for the 1,800 MHz spectrum licences.
According to NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantsith, the tender was postponed because academics and an anti-corruption organisation had cautioned that holding the auctions one day apart, namely on 11 and 12 November, might result in a lack of genuine competition among the bidders, which would also result in low final bids.
The NBTC representative also said that the postponement of the auction would also provide more time for existing 900MHz mobile phone users, whose service was provided under a concession to AIS that expired in September, to migrate to different networks. More than 2.2 million users of AIS's 900MHz service have still not migrated to another network
