The Thai government is re-considering the reserve prices it has set for this year’s auction of spectrum suitable for 4G services after it secured additional frequencies to include in the sale, it emerged this week.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) will receive an extra 5 MHz of spectrum from state-owned CAT Telecom next month, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The newswire did not state what type of frequencies CAT Telecom will hand over. However, it is safe to assume that the spectrum in question is in the 1800 MHz band, since it quoted NBTC secretary general Takorn Tantasith saying that the starting prices in that band will be reviewed.
New reserve prices for the 1800 MHz band will be set by the end of the month, ahead of a public consultation on the forthcoming auction, which will take place on 17 July, Takorn said.
Thailand in March confirmed that it plans to auction two 1800-MHz licences in November and two 900-MHz licences in December. Documents released by the NBTC at the time suggest that the country aims to raise upwards of 61 billion baht (€1.7 billion) from the process.
Takorn this week said there is no reason to believe the auction will be delayed.
