Thailand Plans to Issue 3G Mobile Service Licenses in May 2008
February 29, 2008
Thailand's telecommunications regulator NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) plans to issue 3G mobile service licenses in May 2008, according to a Reuters report citing the NTC Chairman.
According to the Reuters report, the NTC has been drafting qualification criteria for licenses, which is expected to take about three months. The draft is scheduled to be launched in April, and the Thai government will hold a public hearing for one month. Therefore, the 3G licenses are expected to be awarded by the end of May.
The issuance of 3G licenses is expected to enable Thai operators to tap multimedia and data services other than the present voice services only. Moreover, with the 3G licenses, mobile operators such as AIS, DTAC, and True Move will pay license fees in the future instead of the network user fees as they do now to the two state-owned telecoms TOT and CAT.