The auction of the 2600-megahertz licence will take place in December after the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) recalls the unused spectrum.
The regulatory draft for recalling spectrum and setting up the compensation regime is finished and will be submitted for approval by the regulator's board on Sept 7, according to NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith.
The 2600MHz spectrum is now operated by a state broadcasting enterprise, MCOT, which holds 190MHz on the 2600MHz band under a concession due to end in 2022.
MCOT earlier agreed to return the unused 90MHz of the 190MHz bandwidth to the NBTC in exchange for compensation.
"The amount of spectrum bandwidth that MCOT must return to the NBTC will depend on the discussions of the two agencies," Mr Takorn said.
He said the NBTC has no intention of delaying the auction process, but it must wait for the setting up of the new NBTC, which was put into effect on June 23.
On the contrary, the NBTC has been speeding up the auction process since the new NBTC law took effect. Section 27 of the new law states that the NBTC must recall spectrum slots, many of them held by state agencies, that are not being efficiently used, to be reallocated through the auction method.
Mr Takorn said the reserve price for the 2600MHz licence auction will not be based on the winning prices of the 4G licence auctions for 1800MHz and 900MHz in late 2015.
He said the reserve price for the 2600MHz spectrum must be evaluated and brought into compliance with international standards.
"NBTC needs to set an attractive price that will draw bidders who are interested to join," the secretary-general said.
Mr Takorn said the regulatory draft for recalling spectrum and setting up the compensation regime should come into force by October after being published in the Royal Gazette.
After the new regulations emerge, the NBTC will set up a subcommittee working on compensation for the spectrum and to design the auction's details.
The framework of the compensation covers details and the amount of the compensation, which will be a benchmark for every case of spectrum return in the future.
A subcommittee on compensation will comprise representatives of state agencies such as the Finance Ministry, the Bureau of the Budget, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and the Digital Economy and Society Ministry.
Mr Takorn said the 2600MHz auction in December will use the N-1 model (number of bidders minus one) in order to create competition.
The N-1 rule means that if there are three qualified bidders for the 2600MHz auction, the NBTC will auction only two licences and keep the remaining bandwidth to be auctioned later.
The 2600MHz will be the first case applied under the new NBTC law for spectrum return and compensation. It can be adapted to use for the coming 5G technology.
The spectrum for 5G has yet to be settled. It has been studied in labs, with ranges from 1GHz to 100GHz.
