After months of speculation, Jasmine International CEO Pete Bodharamik has finally gone public on why the potential fourth mobile player defaulted on the 4G licence it won in the December auction for a record THB76 billion ($2.1 billion).

Bodharamik (pictured) said yesterday that its Chinese partner is still waiting for Chinese regulatory approval for the venture in Thailand, which isn’t likely to come until mid-April, the Bangkok Post reported. Jasmine previously attempted to delay the payment and requested to pay in installments, but the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said it couldn’t extend the deadline or ease the payment conditions.

He said Jasmine had worked out an agreement with a Chinese operator and had support from Chinese banks but was unable to make the payment until the regulator approved the deal.

The company failed to pay the first installment for the 4G spectrum, which means the regulator will need to hold a replacement auction and Jasmine forfeits its THB644 million ($18.5 million) guarantee.

NBTC was scheduled to meet today to figure out how to respond to Jasmine missing the payment deadline. It also is considering criminal charges if it emerges that Jasmine distorted the bidding by having no intention to pay for the licence. In February the regulator threatened to cancel Jasmine’s fixed-line licence and hold it responsible for any auction re-run costs if it couldn’t pay on time. The auction rules stipulate that Jasmine must compensate the NBTC for the THB160 million in operating expenses incurred during the auction.

Bodharamik, however, said its legal team advised that NBTC can only confiscate the guarantee without any additional fines or penalties because the company didn’t violate the regulations governing the use of the 900MHz spectrum, the Post reported.

Jasmine’s subsidiary, Jas Mobile, and True Move each won 10MHz of 900MHz spectrum and had a 21 March deadline to pay 50 per cent of the reserve price of the spectrum and providing bank guarantees for the remaining amount to be paid in three installments until 2017.

True made its payment in early March, but Jasmine reportedly ran into difficulty securing financing late last year after its international partners pulled out after the spectrum price went beyond fair value.

NBTC said earlier that if Jasmine forfeited the licence, it would hold a replacement auction for the 900MHz block in about four months with a starting price of THB75.65 billion, which was Jasmine’s winning bid.