Thai state telco TOT’s labor union has as expected filed a lawsuit against the telecom regulator, demanding control over the former AIS spectrum that was recently scheduled to be auctioned on 15 December.
The lawsuit filed in the central administrative court is against both the current and former telecom regulators, the National Telecommunications Commission and the current National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. The regulators' directors-general are also included, making a total of 24 defendants.
TOT union deputy leader Pongthiti Pongsilamanee said that the previous regulator, the NTC the one who drew up the spectrum map which ordered the recall of 900-MHz after the concession ended.
He said that the then Telephone Organisation of Thailand had been allocated spectrum from the Posts and Telegraph Department (which was turned into the NTC and now NBTC) in which there clearly was no expiry date. He added the spectrum must be returned to TOT after the concession ended in September.
Pongthiti said that he would also be filing another lawsuit asking for an injunction on the auction. The 900-MHz auction of two 10 MHz licences was originally scheduled for one day after the 1800-MHz auction, November 13. But the telecom regulator has postponed it to December 15 stating that they did not want to overly stress operators' finances with two auctions one day after the other.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Vishnu Krue-ngam will today meet with representatives from fellow state telco CAT Telecom and the NBTC, seeking to head off the threat of the CAT union sabotaging the 1800-MHz auction.
CAT’s labor union has threatened that it will file for an injunction into next week’s auction unless the government gives it the right to launch an LTE network on a 20 MHz slice of recalled Dtac 1800-MHz that currently lies unused.
CAT acting CEO Colonel Sanpachai Huvanandana told reporters that no decision had yet been made whether CAT would file for an injunction to halt next week’s 1800-MHz auction, adding that he was confident the meeting would yield a good outcome for the country and ensure the survival of CAT.