Four Thai companies have applied for bidding documents for the upcoming 1800-MHz 4G auction due to take place in November.
Jasmine Group subsidiary Jas Mobile Broadband, Dtac's Dtac Trinet, AIS unit AWS and True Corp unit True Move H Universal Communications have all applied to bid in the auction, the Bangkok Post reported.
The auction of 4G-capable spectrum is due to take place on November 11 following a practice run the previous week.
Two 18-year licenses to 15 MHz of spectrum in the 1800-MHz band will be auctioned off. If at least three companies submit applications to take place in the auction, the reserve price will be set at at 15.91 billion baht ($437.56 million), but if there are only two the reserve will be 19.89 billion baht.
Regulator NBTC's decision to adopt a multi-tiered reserve price appears to be an attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2.1-GHz 3G auction from 2012, which ended with a mere 2.8% premium over the reserve price due to a lack of competition for the licenses.
The regulator is planning to conduct a separate 900-MHz 4G auction in December, and has set the reserve price for this band at 12.9 billion baht.