29-06-2025
Mobile phone bands auctioned off for B41bn
The auction of four mobile spectrum bands on Sunday generated more than 41 billion baht from the sales of the 1500MHz, 2100MHz, and 2300MHz bands to two major telecom operators, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and True Corporation.
There were no bids for the 850MHz band.
AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) and True subsidiary True Move H Universal Communication (TUC) were the only two qualified bidders in the auction, hosted by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
Dr Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck, chairman of the NBTC board, said AWN proposed a total of around 14 billion baht to grab all three available sets of the 2100MHz band.
It clinched the band by proposing a price of 4.9 billion per set, compared to the reserve price of 4.5 billion baht per set.
The 2100MHz band was available in three sets of 10MHz of bandwidth, each at a price of 4.5 billion baht.
The AWN total winning price on the 2100MHz is around 10% higher than the combined three sets of the band's reserve price.
TUC proposed a total of 26.4 billion baht to grab the 2300MHz and 1500MHz bands: 21.7 billion baht for all seven available sets of the 2300MHz band, and a further 4.65 billion baht for four out of the total 11 sets of the 1500MHz available for the auction.
The 2300MHz band was available in seven sets, each with 10MHz of bandwidth and a price of 2.59 billion baht each.
TUC's winning price for the 2300MHz band is estimated to be 19.7% higher than the total reserve price of the combined seven sets of the 2300MHz.
Eleven sets of the 1500MHz band were available, each with 5MHz of bandwidth at a price of 1 billion baht each.
TUC's winning price for four sets of the 1500MHZ is around 10% higher than the combined four sets of the 1500 MHz's reserve price.
The auction began at 9.30am and took only one hour to finish. The NBTC board held a meeting to acknowledge the auction result in the afternoon.
Two sets of the 850MHz band were on sale, each containing 10MHz of bandwidth at a reserve price of 7.7 billion baht each.
The NBTC board is slated to hold a meeting on Wednesday to consider all dimensions of the auction results.
