The telecom regulator plans to announce the initial reserve price for 700-megahertz licences before May 10 to help the boards of the three major mobile operators decide whether to purchase them before the submission deadline of May 22.
The reserve price will be based on the International Telecommunication Union's evaluation of the 900MHz range in 2015, as well as recent auction prices from the 700MHz range in Sweden.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) originally planned to announce the reserve price on May 22, but moved the date to speed up the process.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said Sweden has several similarities to Thailand including population size and number of mobile users.
The NBTC sent its academic team to meet with Sweden's telecom regulatory office in early April to use its auction as a reference for Thai spectrum prices.
The details of the 700MHz licence allocation sale, including an alternative to licence term payments, are scheduled to be released on the NBTC's website on May 14.
The agency plans to hold a focus group hearing with the operators to unveil the 700MHz licence conditions by May 22, he said.
After the hearing, a draft of the 700MHz allocation sale is expected to be approved by the NBTC board in June, and operators wanting to buy licences would be awarded them by June.
"One important condition is the payment terms for the licences may be divided into three categories, such as four-, 10- and 15-year instalments, though we need to hear opinions on these options during the hearings," Mr Takorn said.
The NBTC plans to allocate 45MHz of bandwidth on the 700MHz range, divided into three licences, each containing 15MHz.
The 700MHz licences will have a 15-year validity.
The move is in line with Section 44, which was invoked by the government on April 10, providing assistance to the three major mobile operators and existing digital TV operators.
Through Section 44, the three telecom operators each can extend their 900MHz licence payment terms for another five years, but only if they agree to buy 700MHz licences.
Additionally, Section 44 will waive the remaining two terms for all digital TV operators' licence payments at a combined cost of 13.6 billion baht, as well as subsidise their rental fees for broadcasting networks worth 18.7 billion for the remaining nine years of the digital TV licences.
Money from the planned allocation of the 700MHz sale will be partly used for assistance to digital TV operators.
Previously, Mr Takorn said each licence on the 700MHz range may cost around 25 billion baht.
The three major mobile operators that want extensions on their 900MHz licence payments must submit proposals to the NBTC by May 10.
After the NBTC finishes the 700MHz allocation conditions, the mobile operators can still choose not to buy 700MHz licences if they are not satisfied with the terms and conditions.
However, if they withdraw, they will have to pay the 900MHz licence payment on the original schedule.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/1670592/