NT says it will take part in satellite orbital slot bid

National Telecom (NT) says it will definitely participate in the satellite orbital slot auction slated for Jan 8, 2023, though it has yet to divulge its planned slot bids.

The telecom state enterprise said a feasibility study on the usage of satellite orbital slots is expected to be completed in the first week of January.

NT was assigned by the National Space Policy Commission and the National Digital Economy and Society Commission to join the bidding, in line with the country’s satellite development policy.

NT president Col Sanphachai Huvanandana said the company has not yet determined which slots it would bid for or the amount of the bidding budget, though 119.5° East and 78.5° E are their favoured slots.

“These slots can be used for broadband C-band business and broadcasting Ku-band business,” said Col Sanphachai.

NT’s feasibility study will also examine the auction’s condition that requires the winning bidders to reserve some capacity on their satellites for state use without charge. The company has to decide what can be done for the optimum benefit of NT, he said.

The auction offers five slot packages, covering 50.5° East and 51° E with a starting price of 374 million baht; 78.5° E with a starting price of 360 million; 119.5° E and 120° E with a starting price of 397 million; 126° E with a starting price of 8 million; and 142° E with a starting price of 189 million.

The licences for orbital slot usage run for 20 years.

NT was among six firms that picked up bid documents from the NBTC office during Nov 4-30.

The other five are mu Space and Advanced Technology, Prompt Technical Services, Space Tech Innovation, Ascend Capital and The Win Telecom.

Interested firms are scheduled to submit their bid documents on Dec 27 with a fee payment of 500,000 baht. The list of qualified bidders is scheduled to be announced on Jan 4, with a mock auction taking place on Jan 7.

The winning bidders in the upcoming satellite orbital slot auction are obliged to reserve one transponder per broadcast satellite, or 400 megabits per second capacity per broadband satellite, for state use and public services without charge.

The bid conditions state if government agencies want to use more satellite capacity than stipulated in the conditions, particularly for the 119.5° E slot, they must not participate in the auction.

State agencies can negotiate with the winning bidders for such usage.

The winning bidders must allow the assigned state agencies to participate in the construction of a satellite gateway

control centre to allow the agencies to manage the allotted capacity for the state’s tasks, as well as train their personnel for future tasks.

Col Sanphachai said the obligation to reserve a certain capacity of a satellite for state agencies has NT wary about its bid strategy.

“NT’s study, which takes into consideration this obligation, will shed light on how we will decide which slots to bid for,” he said.