Labour groups rally to cancel orbital slots’ auction
The State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (Serc) and other labour groups rallied yesterday at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) headquarters to demand the cancellation of an auction for satellite orbital slots.
Other groups at the rally included the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, the labour union of state-owned National Telecom (NT), and the Thai Social Democratic and Thai Pakdee parties.
They called on the government and NBTC to be aware of the importance of satellites as basic infrastructure or public utility services of the state that are necessary for state security and the protection of what are regarded as national treasures.
Serc urged the government and NBTC to scrap the auction because satellite businesses had fallen into the hands of private firms over three decades which meant ordinary people bore the brunt of expensive service costs.
NBTC regulations regarding the licensing of the rights to access satellite orbits in a package also seemed to contradict Section 56 of the 2017 Constitution which stipulates that the state cannot conduct any act which renders the ownership of basic structures or public utility services of the state to be under the private sector or for ownership by the state to be less than 51%.
In addition, Section 60 stipulates the state must maintain the transmission frequencies and the right to access a satellite orbit, which are national treasures, for the benefit of the country and the people.
In case there is a problem in space while ownership is held by a private firm, the government must take responsibility based on international agreements, Serc said.
Finally, the government should allow NT to supervise the matter as the company was a merger of CAT Telecom and TOT Public Co Ltd that set the communication infrastructure for people to utilise, as defined by the government, it said.
On the same day, Taweechai Kodwong, a Serc member in Nakhon Ratchasima, submitted a letter to the chairman of the NBTC outlining the demands of the groups.