Thailand's Jasmine International is under pressure to find a joint venture partner to allow it to pay for its 900-MHz license or face the revocation of all its operating licenses.
Regulator NBTC has threatened to file a civil lawsuit and revoke all Jasmine's licenses if it does not come up with the first instalment of the 75 billion baht ($2.1 billion) it bid for one of two 900-MHz licenses.
Jasmine has faced difficulty securing a bank loan to pay for the license due to the high cost coupled with uncertainty over Jasmine's business model.
The NBTC has in response indicated it may have to hold a replacement auction for the spectrum if Jasmine remains unable to pay.
Sources told the Bangkok Post that Jasmine is in talks with potential joint venture partners in Singapore and Malaysia, with one possible candidate being Singaporean state investment vehicle Temasek Holding or its majority-owned subsidiary SingTel.
Jasmine is meanwhile in talks with Thai mobile operators AIS and Dtac over a possible mobile roaming agreement.
One of the sources said Jasmine feels it needs a 4G license to provide high-speed wireless broadband, because the company will not be able to survive on fixed broadband alone.