Page 130 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2025

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications commences. www.bangkokpost.com
Commission (NBTC) is scheduled to auction six
spectrum bands by April with a combined reserve NBTC unanimously approved a draft of the planned
price of 121 billion baht. The NBTC is slated to hold a auction of six mobile spectrum bands. The auction is
Thailand public hearing on the auction plan on Feb 6, following expected to be held in the second quarter of this year.
its board approving the draft auction plan last month.
Under the planned auction, there are three categories
The auction has three categories of bands, including the of bands, including the low bands of 850-megahertz,
low bands of 850-megahertz, 1500MHz and 1800MHz. 1500MHz and 1800MHz. The other sets are the middle
The other sets are the middle bands of 2100MHz and bands of 2100MHz and 2300MHz, and the high band of
2300MHz, and the high band of 26GHz. An NBTC source 26GHz. NBTC commissioner, said the NBTC office will
who requested anonymity said all the bands will have hold a public hearing of the draft within 30 days. The NBTC
valid periods of 15 years, except 2100MHz, which is office plans to hold an auction of each of the spectrum
for 13 years. The source said the 850MHz band will be categories, starting from low band, middle band, and
auctioned in two sets, each featuring 10MHz bandwidth high band respectively. "The 850, 1500, and 1800MHz
for upload and download at a starting price of 6.609 will be auctioned simultaneously," Commissioner said.
billion baht each. The 1500MHz band will be available in The 850MHz, 2100MHz and 2300MHz bands are being
11 sets, each containing 5MHz at a starting price of 904 used by National Telecom (NT), but its license expires
million baht each. The 1800MHz band will be auctioned in August this year. The 1500MHz band had been used
in seven sets, each containing 10MHz bandwidth at a via a microwave communication system and is now
starting price of 6.219 billion baht each, said the source. vacant. Part of the 26GHz range has been auctioned
The 2300MHz band has seven sets, each containing since 2020. There is some 100MHz bandwidth of the
10MHz at a price of 1.675 billion baht each, while 26GHz 26GHz left and available to be auctioned. The 2100MHz
has one set containing 100MHz, with a reserve price of range comprises part of NT's 2100 MHz, totaling
423 million baht. Twelve sets of 2100MHz are on sale, 45MHz of bandwidth, and other parts of the range that
each containing 10MHz, at a price of 3.391 billion baht were auctioned in the past, with licenses of the auction
each, while another three sets of the same band, each winners to expire in 2027. Another 15MHz of bandwidth
containing 5MHz, are on sales priced 497 million baht on the 2100MHz range is also available for the auction.
each. The winning bidders must allocate bandwidth Commissioner said the auction conditions would
capacity for mobile virtual network operators to offer prioritize spectrum utilization for optimum benefit, with
service, as well as devise cybersecurity and personal price the least important factor in the decision.
data protection plans. The plans must be submitted (January 15, 2025) www.bangkokpost.com
to the regulator at least three months before service

Ofcom has announced its intention to auction the upper mind the potential risk of antitrust liability arising from
block of 1.4 GHz band (1492-1517 MHz) for 4G and the exchange of competitively sensitive information in
5G mobile use. It expects that further deployment of connection with auctions of this kind.
the upper block of the 1.4 GHz band will help improve (Februray 7, 2025) www.natlawreview.com
United the performance of mobile services, particularly The UK government has announced the launch of two
in areas where coverage is patchy, such as some
Kingdom indoor areas and in remote parts of the UK. To avoid antitrust investigations into the mobile ecosystems of
potential disruption to Inmarsat satellite receivers on both Apple and Google by the country’s competition
board maritime vessels and aircraft, Ofcom is also watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority
proposing to limit the power that mobile networks can (CMA). In the accompanying press release, the CMA
transmit around certain ports and airports for an initial defined a mobile ecosystem as including “the operating
period, relaxing this limit later on. To award the 1492- systems, app stores and browsers that operate on
1517 MHz spectrum, Ofcom plans to use a sealed- mobile devices”. Core elements of the investigation
bid, single round auction format, with a ‘second price’ include the extent of competition between Apple and
rule – where winning bidders pay fees based on the Google’s ecosystems, how each company may be
second highest price bid. Ofcom’s proposals (including leveraging its power to maintain footholds “into other
a draft license template) are available here and any activities” and favor their own platforms, and whether
interested party can provide comments until 25 April either company is exploiting app developers by strong-
2025. Ofcom also intends to consult separately on arming them into unfair terms and conditions in order to
its competition assessment for this award once any have their products accepted onto their respective app
spectrum trades, which are being considered as part stores. (January 24, 2025) www.techradar.com
of the merger between H3G and Vodafone, have been
completed. Potentially interested parties should bear in Ofcom has set the date to auction off the mmWave

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