More than 400 candidates are expected to vie for seven seats on the new NBTC board when the application period starts next month.
More than 400 candidates are expected to vie for seven seats on the new National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) board when the application period kicks off next month, according to a management source at the regulator who requested anonymity.
This first anonymous source said the large number of candidates could be attributed to the immense role the board plays in driving forward economy and society, especially in the digital era.
The submission of the applications is scheduled for Oct 14-28.
The list of qualified candidates is expected to be seen by the end of this year. The Senate is projected to vote in new NBTC members early next year.
On Sept 9, the Upper House’s secretariat office issued the formal announcement on the selection process of new NBTC board members, ranging from their qualifications to the timeline of the application.
The recruitment will be done under the existing NBTC Act, which came into effect in 2017.
Based on legislation, the seven seats in the NBTC board must come from seven background fields: telecom, broadcasting, TV business, law, engineering, economics and consumer protection.
Those who apply must be 40-70 and they must select which fields to apply to.
Of the candidates, 14 shortlisted names from seven fields of expertise must be sought first, two from each field.
The Senate will then vote to select seven of them — one from each field.
According to this source, the telecom field is expected to draw the biggest number of applicants, followed by broadcasting and consumer protection, as these fields have significant roles in the market.
An experienced telecom industry source, who requested anonymity, said some initiatives or solutions in connection with 5G tech adoption should be introduced to revive the sagging economy and create new opportunities in the wake of the pandemic.
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Based on legislation, the seven seats in the NBTC board must come from seven background fields: telecom, broadcasting, TV business, law, engineering, economics and consumer protection.
The second source said the NBTC needs to tackle vexing tasks, including ushering in a draft for the auction of satellite orbital slot utilisation rights and coming up with a remedy measure for 12.4 million household subscribers of the satellite TV service once the 3500-megahertz spectrum has to be reclaimed from the satellite TV industry for the telecom sector in the future.
More importantly, the telecom source said, the pandemic is beneficial to digital platforms and over-the-top (OTT) businesses, which are currently dominated by foreign players.
The government through the NBTC should adjust policies and measures to prevent benefits from flowing out of the country, the veteran said, adding that there is a paramount need for Thais to develop their own OTT platforms as part of efforts to shore up the local economy.
“This could be done through what is called an ‘infrastructure utilisation fee,’ in which foreign OTT platform providers have to pay fees to infrastructure network owners in the country in accordance with the bandwidth or terabytes they use for providing services in Thailand,” the source said.
The NBTC needs to add some clauses to the NBTC Act for the implementation of this fee, as it serves as a direct regulator for the telecom network, the source said.