ICT MINISTER WANTS REVIEW OF 3G LICENCE AUCTION

       Information and Communications Technology Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee said yesterday she would ask the government to tell the national telecom watchdog to review the licence and auction conditions of the 3G-2.1GHz licences.
       She cited concerns that the licensing would affect the revenues of TOT and CAT Telecom and would pave the way for foreign firms to gobble up the Thai telecom industry.
       The minister has already ordered TOT and CAT to work out the possible affects on their revenues because of the licensing and send a proposal to her on Monday before she approaches Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on the matter.
       Ranongruk said that she had learned from watching TNN channel of True Visions that the 3G licence auction by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) would give a chance to foreign firms to fully enter the Thai market.
       The telecom law and Foreign Business Act each caps the foreign shareholding in Thai telecom operators at 49 per cent.
       She added that TOT and CAT both have the potential to develop 3G services.
       "We have to trust TOT. If we don't trust it, who will? Both TOT and CAT have contributed a great deal of revenue to the country. Why don't we give them a chance?" she said.
       The NTC has set December 8 as the tentative date to auction four licences to use the 2.1GHz spectrum to develop the 3G wireless broadband service.
       NTC chairman Choochart Phromprasid said he would apprise the premier on all matters on Monday. The NTC has invited the premier to give a speech on the role of national independent regulators in the country's development.
       Choochart said that TOT had once asked the NTC to delay the auction plan but in the watchdog's view, the country lagged behind other countries in the 3G-service development.
       He said that TOT and CAT were granted the joint ownership rights of the 1,900 MHz spectrum band - part of the 2.1GHz spectrum - since 2000 by the now defunct Frequency Allocation Panel. But they have not yet shown any progress in developing the service.
       CAT has just finished transferring its joint ownership rights to TOT and allowed it to solely own the 1,900 MHz spectrum for developing the 3G service. Choochart added that the auction conditions do not allow firms with 100-per-cent foreign shareholding to bid for the licences but the conditions comply with the telecom law and the Foreign Business Act.
       Ranongruk said she wondered why the auction prohibited state telecom agencies from bidding for the licences.
       However, TOT chairman of the board, Teravuti Boonyasopon, said that TOT does not want to enter the bid but wants to see the auction take place after the end of the private telecom concession terms.
       One 3G licence auction condition prohibits an owner of a 3G spectrum band from bidding for the licences. TOT owns the 1,900 MHz band, which is part of the 3G-2.1GHz spectrum.
       NTC deputy secretary-general Suranan Wongvithayakamjorn said CAT is likely to be qualified to bid for the licences.
       Earlier, the NTC was uncertain if CAT could bid for the licences, as the Finance Ministry owns 100 per cent shares in CAT and TOT, and TOT owns the 1,900 MHz.
       CAT chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong said that CAT is interested in bidding for the licences.
       Teravuti said TOT also wanted to see that those interested in providing the 3G service do so via the TOT's upcoming 3G networks only and on the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) basis. An MVNO is a company without its own network but leases airtime of others to provide the cellular service.
       TOT is upgrading its existing 1,900 MHz network in Bangkok and Greater Bangkok to 3G technology and will roll out the new 3G network nationwide.
       Teravuti is concerned that once they get the 3G licences,. the telecom operators will move their existing subscribers from the state concessions to the 3G licences to save the huge regulatory cost. This will affect the revenue of TOT.
       Currently the mobile-phoen service concessions have contributed an average 20 per cent of their revenue as concession fees. The total annual 3G licences cost it expected to account for only 6 per cent of revenues.
       TOT owns the concession of Thailand's largest cellular operator Advanced Info Service, which has paid at least Bt10 billion of the concession fee a year to TOT.
       Meanwhile, True, the parent company of True Visions, strongly opposed the 3G licence auction during the 3G public hearing on Monday, arguing that the method favours big telecom operators over smaller ones. True also aruged that the telecom industry is a matter of national security and hence the NTC should not award 3G licences to foreign firms.