Thailand’s hopes of stimulating competition in the mobile market via its upcoming 4G auction were dealt a blow on Monday when CAT Telecom reportedly cancelled its plan to participate.
According to the Bangkok Post, the state-owned telco failed to find a strategic foreign partner. The company had been in talks with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and South Korea’s SK Telecom over a possible 4G MVNO deal, and the latter had allegedly agreed to bid with CAT in the auction.
However, "with the degree of uncertainty regarding the auction delay and the unclear auction design, negotiations between the parties collapsed," said Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana, acting president of CAT Telecom, in the report.
Indeed, Thailand’s 4G auction has been subject to repeated delay, not least because of the military coup in April 2014.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post said Monday that CAT was also put off by having to disclose its budget and have it approved by the government ahead of the auction.
"This is impractical, as other bidders would know our maximum bid. It’s barring us from competing in an auction," Sanpachai said.
In March Thailand revealed that it hopes to raise more than 61 billion baht (€1.5 billion) by auctioning 1800 MHz and 900-MHz spectrum in November and December respectively. In April, it emerged that CAT had earmarked THB30 billion for 4G spectrum.
It was hoped the auction would foster greater competition in a market dominated by AIS, True Corp and DTAC, but with CAT’s withdrawal, that chance might been lost.
