The acting board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will launch the 1800MHz spectrum pre-auction process on 26th April, after approving the draft terms and conditions earlier this week.
All interested bidders are invited to submit their applications on 15 June, with the NBTC scheduled to announce the qualified bidders by 2 August; the tender itself will be held on 4 August. If no bids are received on 15 June, the NBTC will amend the terms and conditions to make the tender more attractive, NBTC secretary Takorn Tantasith said. Under the draft document approved on 24 April, the NBTC will auction three blocks (2×15MHz each) with a reserve price of THB37.45 billion (USD1.2 billion), valid for 15 years. All bidders must deposit THB1.87 billion as a bid guarantee to participate in the tender. If only one bid is received, the regulator will postpone the auction for 30 days and if no applications are received during the grace period, one concession will be auctioned to the bidder at a ‘one-time increment of THB75 million on the THB37.45 billion reserve price’.