At the 6am break at the end of day two of bidding, Thailand’s 900-MHz auction is still going strong with the two 10-MHz licences now at $2.69 billion (96,890 million Baht) after 45 hours and 109 rounds.
The bidders now go for their three-hour sleep break before bidding recommences at 9am.
Since the bids are anonymous, little can be gleaned from the bidding information except that in round 106, three of the four bidders were still active as three bids were placed the higher of the two slots. The price has diverged somewhat with the lower slot at 47,962 and the upper slot at 49,572.
There was a brief lull of bidding at around the 40-billion mark, roughly where the 1800-MHz licences went for, though that did not last long.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasit said that one of the bidders has asked for the sleep breaks to be scrapped and for 10 rounds with double bid increments to speed up the auction. Each bid now increases the price by just $17.91 million (644 million Baht). Takorn said he had turned down both requests.
Meanwhile, the NBTC has ordered in food for dinner and is making plans on how to accommodate the bidders as they go into their fourth day in their sealed bidding offices. The original plan was that the event would end with lunch on this, its third day of bidding, at the very latest.