The auctions for 90 megahertz of downlink-uplink bandwidth on the 1,800MHz spectrum and 20MHz on the 850MHz band must be held and licences be awarded by June 2018 to avoid service disruption after concessions expire, according to the industry regulator.
The two spectrum ranges are operated by Total Access Communication (DTAC) under concessions from state-owned enterprise CAT Telecom, which will expire on Sept 30 next year.
Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said the existing 900,000 subscribers on the two spectrum ranges need to be migrated to other networks before the concessions expire. Two months is an adequate period to alert customers about the network transmission to avoid service disruption, he said.
The NBTC does not want a transition period for remaining mobile users, which will happen if the concession expires before the auctions are held, said Mr Takorn.
Under NBTC regulations, mobile operators with expired concessions have to continue providing service for the remaining users on the concession network.
During the transition period operators have to transfer income after expenses to the NBTC.
Mr Takorn said the transition period will entail complicated issues for the state to manage, as it is hard to reach consensus between the NBTC and operators.
He said the previous 4G licence auction for the 1800MHz spectrum ended in 2015, but the dispute between NBTC and the two concessionaires on the 1800MHz spectrum (True Move and Digital Phone) is still unsettled.
The concessions of True Move and Digital Phone, a subsidiary of Advanced Info Service (AIS) ended in September 2013 but the military government suspended the auction timeline, and held it in November 2015.
Mr Takorn said the auction timeline of the DTAC concession spectrum will be held under the new NBTC board. The seven NBTC commissioners form an interim board after their six-year working term ended on Oct 6.
The new NBTC Act that came into effect on June 23 allows the existing NBTC board to continue their responsibility and authority as necessary until the government officially appoints a new NBTC board.
However, the existing NBTC board should not make or approve any new regulations, including the spectrum auction for licences, as there could be a risk of legal backlash.
Mr Takorn said NBTC has already set up a working group for drafting the auctions of the 1800 and 850MHz spectra now under DTAC's concession.
NBTC expects to complete all related preparation process, including public hearing for the draft, by the end of this year before submitting to the new NBTC board for consideration.
The new NBTC board should be officially appointed and start working by March 2018, to ensure a timeline and avoid service disruption, Mr Takorn said.
Today, the National Legislative Assembly's selection committee for recruiting the new NBTC board will begin working on a draft of the new NBTC qualifications and recruitment process.
After finishing the drafting, the committee will announce the recruitment conditions and invite candidates to participate.
Under the NBTC Act, the recruitment process must have 14 potential candidates. The 14 names will be voted upon by the National Legislative Assembly and narrowed down to seven by the new NBTC board members.
A source said the process for recruitment will take at least four or five months before official appointments.
