Thai 3G auction may be delayed to Feb

BANGKOK, THAILAND: Thailand's auction of long-awaited third-generation mobile phone licences could be delayed to February as the documentation process may take longer than planned, a regulatory official said on Friday.

"The appropriate timing should be late January or early February," Settaporn Kusripitak, one of the members of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), told Reuters.

The NTC had planned to hold the 3G auction in the middle of December.

But it is holding a second public hearing on the draft terms for the auction on Nov. 12, and Settaporn said it should then take around 45-60 days for interested operators to prepare documents, rather than the 30 days previously announced.

Licensing is seen as a key step in reforming the sector because companies will pay licence fees instead of paying a portion of their revenue to state-owned firms for the right to operate networks they built and paid for themselves, as they do now.

The auctions are expected to generate around $1.2 billion for the state.

Telecoms operators are keen to receive 3G licences on the new 2.1 GHz spectrum, which analysts said should reduce their regulatory costs.

Among them are top mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service ADVA.BK, second-ranked Total Access Communication PCL DTAC.BK and number three True Move, a subsidiary of True Corp TRUE.BK.