The planned auction of 1800 and 850-megahertz spectrum licences in May 2018 is hanging in the balance as critical factors could potentially obstruct the regulator's plan to award licences to winners by June next year.
A failure to have an auction within the timeline means the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) may have to create additional measures for mobile users on the two spectrum ranges after the concession ends in September 2018 to avoid service disruption.
Major operators are also considering opposing the planned auction of the two spectrum ranges, with a top executive of a major mobile operator feeling the reserve price is too high and permitting JAS Mobile Broadband to join the auction would be unfair after JAS defaulted on its first licence payment for the 900MHz band in 2015.
"Under the existing auction draft of the 1800 and 850MHz licences, the auction will not be able to draw high and competitive bids. The planned timeline will also be very difficult to meet," said the executive.
Last week, the NBTC board approved the auction draft for the 1800 and 850MHz licences. NBTC office plans to hold a public hearing for the auction draft in December this year and the auctions will be held by May next year.
The auction licences should be awarded by June 2018, two months ahead of the expiry of the concessions.
The 1800 and 850MHz spectrum ranges are operated by Total Access Communication (DTAC) under the concessions from state-owned enterprise CAT Telecom, and are due to expire on Sept 30 next year.
If the concession expires but the spectrum ranges under the concession have yet to be reallocated to a new holder, the regulator may have to issue remedial measures to prevent service disruption.
Under remedial measures, the operator who holds the concession must continue the service to users but has to transfer all benefits (after expenses) to the state.
However, NBTC has not yet applied remedial measures and disputes over the calculation of benefits to deliver to the state are rarely resolved.
The top executive said apart from the uncertainty of NBTC's authority to hold the auction, major operators disagree with the auction draft as they consider the reserve price, based on the winning price of the 2015 4G licence auction, to be too high.
