The Finance Ministry has recommended that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) consult with “all related state agencies” on its plan to auction the 3G2.1GHz spectrum licences.

According to a ministry letter signed by permanent secretary Sathit Limpongpan and sent to the NTC on Tuesday, the ministry says that the NTC licensing plan involves many state agencies, and the watchdog should consult with them on the move to grant the 3G licences. Otherwise, its licence granting could have unexpected impacts on their operations.

The NTC will auction three 3G licences in September.

DBS Vickers said in a research note that the Finance Ministry wants the NTC to amend 3G regulations to facilitate the ministry’s plan to convert 2G concessions into licences. As the NTC is likely to take the ministry’s proposal into consideration, this might further delay the award of 3G licenses.

The Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent of TOT and CAT Telecom. It is working out the details of the concession conversion plan. One option is to covert the existing private telecom concessions under TOT and CAT into NTC licences with 15 year terms, the same term as for the 3G licence. It wants to see the conversion completed before the NTC grants the 3G licences.

Many parties have said that the 3G licences will financially affect TOT and CAT by paving the way for private concession holders that obtain 3G licences to migrate customers from the high regulatory cost concessions to the lower regulatory cost licences.

The overall licence cost will account for 6 per cent of the licence holders’ annual revenue, while the concession fee costs private concession holders around 25 per cent of their annual revenue.

News item Courtesy of The Nation Bangkok at www.nationmultimedia.com