For more than five hours on Sunday, 16 February 2020, bidders in Bangkok traded offers for the airwaves that will carry Thailand’s 5G. When it was over, the regulator had 100.52 billion baht, about US$3.2 billion, and 48 licences were in private and state hands. Reuters carried the tally the next day.
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, the NBTC, had put 49 licences up across three bands: 700MHz, 2600MHz and 26GHz. One licence in the 26GHz band, where 27 were on offer, found no buyer. A fourth band, 1800MHz, drew no interest at all and was left out of the sale, Telecompaper reported, citing The Nation.
Who won what
Five operators bid: Advanced Info Service through its unit AWN, dtac TriNet, TrueMove H Universal Communication, and the state-owned CAT Telecom and TOT. Advanced Info Service, the country’s biggest mobile operator, came away with 23 licences across all three bands. According to the NBTC’s announced results, AWN paid 17.15 billion baht for 2×5 MHz in the 700MHz band, 19.56 billion baht for 100 MHz in the 2500-2600 MHz range, and 5.34 billion baht for 1200 MHz of 26GHz spectrum. Those prices exclude VAT.
True Move H took 2600-2690 MHz for 17.87 billion baht and added 26GHz spectrum for 3.57 billion baht, bringing its bill to 21.44 billion baht. Dtac bought two 26GHz lots totalling 200 MHz for 910.4 million baht.
The Bangkok Post, quoted by the Operator Watch blog, added a detail on the 2600MHz band: AIS holds 100MHz of it and True Move H holds 90MHz. NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said that “could be enough for both of them to develop their 5G adoption.”
Payment and what comes next
Winners in the 700MHz and 2600MHz bands must pay the government over a 10-year period, according to Reuters. The NBTC said its board would approve the results on 19 February, after which winners could collect their licences.
The regulator says 5G will run at speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G and help power the digital economy, with commercial service expected later in the year.
One band stays unsold. The NBTC signalled that the 3500MHz range is unlikely to be auctioned this year, a decision that could hurt dtac, which holds less spectrum than its bigger rivals. Takorn and the digital economy minister, Buddhipongse Punnakanta, agreed that operators had already carried a heavy financial load from 4G and 5G licensing, which cooled their appetite for more spectrum. Meanwhile TOT and CAT are merging into a new company, National Telecom, to be wholly owned by the Finance Ministry.
Sources
- Thailand raises US$3.2 billion from 5G licence auction ahead of commercial roll-out later this year – South China Morning Post (Reuters)
- Thailand raises more than THB 100 billion in 5G spectrum auction – Telecompaper
- Thailand gets 5G Spectrum but no demand for 1800 MHz and 3.5 GHz coming in 2021 – Operator Watch Blog (quoting the Bangkok Post)
