Thailand's telecommunications regulator said on Monday it expected to issue long-awaited licences for third-generation (3G) mobile services in the first quarter of next year.
It would choose an adviser to draft qualification criteria for licences this month, National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) member Sethaporn Cusripituck told reporters.
"We will hold a public hearing for one month in December. After the qualification criteria are completed in February, the 3G licences will be issued," Sethaporn said.
The adviser would also study how many 3G licences would be appropriate for the Thai market, where about 7 in 10 people has a phone, and how to allocate them, he said. Issuing 3G licences has been delayed for several years because the process has been strewn with political obstacles.
They are a key step in reforming the sector because firms will pay licence fees instead of paying a portion of their revenues to two state-owned firms for the right to operate networks they build and paid for, as they do now.
The two state companies are TOT PCL and CAT Telecom PCL. Thailand has more than 46 million mobile users, or 70 phones per 100 people, compared with around 80 in Malaysia and more than 100 in Singapore. The top three mobile operators are Advanced Info Service, Total Access Communication and True Move, a subsidiary of True Corp.
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