Thailand forced to cancel 1800-MHz auction
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Thai regulator NBTC has been forced to cancel a planned 1800-MHz spectrum auction after none of the market’s three operators registered to participate.
Although True Move, Dtac and AIS all picked up the auction documents, none had filed them by the Saturday deadline.
True Move had already expressed plans to sit out of the auction, but Dtac and AIS only revealed their intentions on Friday.
In a statement, AIS said the company “considered the auction terms are not appropriate nor in the best interest of the company at this stage.”
Operators have complained about the high reserve prices – NBTC had set a reserve of 37.45 billion baht ($1.15 billion) per 1800-MHz license.
The decision by all three operators to sit out of the auction has led to suspicions of collusion, and the NBTC had been planning to ask the government to revoke the remedy measures designed to mitigate the impact of Dtac’s imminent concession expiry in response.
But the regulator now plans to reschedule the auction before the concession expires to allow Dtac to prevent having its 2G network cut off.
The regulator is expected to reduce the high reserve price to make the auction a more attractive prospect.
Questions & Answers
Q.Why was the 1800-MHz spectrum auction cancelled?
Why was the 1800-MHz spectrum auction cancelled?
The auction was cancelled because none of Thailand's three operators, True Move, Dtac, and AIS, registered to participate. All three had collected the auction documents but failed to submit them by the deadline.
Q.What reason did the operators give for not participating?
What reason did the operators give for not participating?
Operators complained about the high reserve prices set by NBTC, which were 37.45 billion baht per license. AIS stated the auction terms were not appropriate or in the company's best interest at this stage.
Q.What is the NBTC's plan following the cancellation?
What is the NBTC's plan following the cancellation?
The regulator plans to reschedule the auction before Dtac's concession expires to prevent its 2G network from being cut off. The NBTC is expected to lower the reserve price.
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