NBTC shocked at move to aid two operators

True Move, AIS ‘don’t deserve Section 44’

Neither the government nor the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) should be held responsible for the actions of two giant mobile telecom operators, according to TDRI chairman Somkiat Tungkitvanich.

Moreover, the regime should not have invoked its special powers under Section 44 to ease their financial burden, he added.

Mr Somkiat posted the comments on his Facebook account yesterday.

The two operators won 4G licences from a 2015 auction and should have no trouble paying for them given their healthy profit margins, he said.

Mr Somkiat said the NBTC and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) had shown their enthusiasm in attempting to lighten the digital TV operators’ load.

This was especially the case after the Central Administrative Court ordered the commission to return bank guarantees worth 1.5 billion baht to loss-ridden Thai TV, which stopped operating two years ago, he added.

The court said the NBTC had failed to keep its promise as detailed in a prospectus it handed out, meaning Thai TV had the right to cancel the contract.

The government is invoking Section 44 to give digital TV operators a threeyear grace period during which they can operate but do not have to make the repayments.

However, they must still cover the interest on the loans, which stands at 1.5%, and subsidise 50% of the broadcasting rental network (MUX) for two years.

Mr Somkiat said the move to invoke Section 44 for the terrestrial digital TV operators opens the door to further help for the two mobile operators that won 4G licences in the 2015 auction.

The government will allow the licence repayments to be delayed until 2019, with instalments to be paid over a five-year period at the aforementioned interest rate.

Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True Move — the two winners of the 4G licences on the 900-MHz spectrum in 2015 — asked the government late last year to step in and extend the terms of repayment until 2019.

They each owe the state 60 billion baht. AIS offered to pay 75.65 billion for its licence while True Move’s successful bid was 76.29 billion. Between them, they have so far repaid 8.04 billion baht in 2016 and 4.02 billion baht in 2017.

They are now both required to pay a third instalment of 4.02 billion baht this year, leaving AIS saddled with a debt of 59.5 billion baht it is supposed to honour next year.

True Move was originally due to repay the outstanding 60.2 billion baht in 2019.

Mr Somkiat said the government’s move to help the two operators came as a surprise because the NBTC committed no wrongdoing related to the auction of the concessions.

Only JAS Mobile Broadband, which won the rights to a 900-MHz licence, erred by defaulting on its first repayment, he said.

Its deposit guarantee of 645 million baht was subsequently confiscated and the operator was ordered to pay a fine of 200 million baht.