3G auction goes to Admin Court

The issuing of 3G wireless licences will shift to the Administrative Court on Wednesday, when an academic will petition the court to suspend the auction next week.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Tuesday announced their were three qualified applicants  - Advanced Wireless Network, a unit of Advanced Info Service; Dtac Network; and Real Future, which is part of True Corp.

Sethapong Malisuwan, NBTC chairman for telecommunications, said the NBTC plans to auction off the 2100 megahertz bandwidth on Oct 16, for use with 3G technology.The only stumbling block between now and the auction day is the move by the former president of the Thailand Telecommunication Management Academy, Anuparp Thiralarp.He has said he will petition the court on Wednesday to halt the auction until the NBTC amends its regulations to "better benefit the public in compliance with the constitution''.The court will decide whether to accept the case, or reject it. A rejection would clear the last hurdle for the bidding for the frequencies.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit on Monday brushed off the tcourt challenge. He said five other people had already lodged legal challenges against the auction. He insisted there would be no further delays to the auction, which is being held under the Frequency Allocation Act of 2010.The NBTC will transfer tens of billions of baht from the sale of the 3G spectrum to the Finance Ministry to invest in other public services, Mr Takorn added.Mr Takorn said the 3G licensing auction procedure is legally binding and covers all possible concerns, including service quality standards, technology development and consumer protection.Opponents of the auction have called on the NBTC to revise the bid terms. One demand is that the NBTC should limit service charges for 3G mobile services at 200 baht a month.Mr Takorn said he expected that the 3G service will come with lower prices than existing rates because operators will enjoy lower operating costs under the new licensing system.3G operators will be subject to a licensing fee of 2% of their annual revenues and a 3.75% universal service obligation tax on the revenue.

Share your thoughts

Discussion 1 : 09/10/2012 at 10:30 PM
Wake up Thailand there is no future in 3G. It's now history, get with the times.
Discussion 2 : 09/10/2012 at 10:04 PM
I certainly hope that the Administation Court rejects this frivolous petition. Clearly, the auction should go through, to benefit the Thai consumers that have waited many years for this to happen. After the auction, any fine-tuning of the consumer benefits can be applied by lawsuits and petitions. I particularly find the petitioner's demand that all data services be limited to 200 B/month to be laughable. Does the petitioner understand the many billions of baht required to build out a 3G network? Where did the petitioner get this figure of 200 B? Honestly I am more than perplexed by why Thailand still doesn't have 3G, when North Korea and even Nepal have it. Perhaps there are vested interests that want the status quo.....

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