A long-running saga over the timing of an auction of 1.8GHz spectrum in Thailand looks to be at an end, after the country’s acting telecoms regulator settled on a date for the process.
The acting board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) scheduled the auction for 4 August after approving draft terms, Bangkok Post reported. However, a related auction of 850MHz spectrum remains up in the air, with no date set.
A sale of 1.8GHz spectrum faced several delays due to concerns over the authority of the current NBTC board to conduct an auction. The process is now clear to proceed after the Council of State backed the current board following a decision by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to block the selection of new NBTC commissioners, the newspaper stated.
The much anticipated sale was again delayed last month after a commissioner suggested auctions couldn’t be held until a new board was in place later in the year.
An original draft of the planned auctions was approved by the NBTC board in December 2017. But a revised plan drafted in January, calling for the number of slots offered in the 1.8GHz band to be increased from three to nine to make the sale more competitive, stalled the process.
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