Thailand's policies related to mobile services are not always transparent or easy to understand. That remains the case. It is not obvious how new spectrum assignments and concessions to operate one of the major mobile wholesale networks relate to promoting or restricting competition.
Some reports might lead to a conclusion that the NBTC wants to limit AIS market power by restricting its access to spectrum obtained by TOT. Others might argue the reverse, that AIS is in line to use more TOT spectrum than it does at present.
Among the implications: will leadership of the Thai mobile market change as new spectrum allocations and commercial deals are signed?
The argument that regulators are trying to encourage competition relies on a rumored license allowing AIS to use 80 percent of mobile spectrum as new licenses are issued. The problem is that final details have not been released.
AIS, Thailand’s largest mobile operator, presently relying on the TOT network to underpin its operations, is said to have the best chance of becoming the user of 80 percent of TOT mobile network capacity available as a result of new license renewals.
Keep in mind that it is TOT that will hold the license, while AIS only has rights to use any available TOT spectrum.
What is not so clear is whether any such rumored access applies only to a 900-MHz license renewal, or also applies to 2.1-GHz and 2.3-GHZ access as well.
So it isn’t yet clear whether the 80-percent figure applies only to 900-MHz spectrum, or also might extend to new fourth-generation spectrum to be released in the 2.3-GHz bands sometime in mid-2016.
If the former, rather than the latter, the decision will have fewer consequences than the numbers immediately would suggest.
While the rumored new license would allocate 80 percent of the available spectrum to one operator, while reserving about 20 percent of TOT capacity for wholesale use by any other mobile operator, only 17.5 MHz is being made available under the new license, and all of that capacity had formerly been used by AIS.
In other words, AIS will keep most, but not all of the spectrum it has been licensing from TOT, up to this point.
AT present, AIS has a concession to use about 42 percent of total TOT network capacity, but most of that capacity is unaffected by the new license issuance. Fully 45 MHz of a total of 77 MHz of spectrum is licensed until 2025 or 2027, and is used by AIS, DTAC, True and other firms.
A formal announcement is expected by mid-November 2015.
TOT is one of two major mobile infrastructure providers in Thailand, supplying most of the capacity used by AIS. CAT underpins operations of True and DTAC, the other two big firms in Thailand.
There are other key decisions coming, or perhaps already made. No matter what happens with any decision on 900-MHz spectrum renewal, there is the separate matter of the contract to operate the TOT mobile networks.
There are some suggestions that AIS also will be named the operator of TOT’s network facilities as well. AIS had been operating the mobile network facilities under a prior deal that now also is being renegotiated.
Some suggest AIS already has won the bid to be the operator of the mobile networks, as it had been doing in the past.
AIS reportedly already has won the bid to operate the tower network on behalf of TOT, and might also be the entity to light the coming 4G wholesale network as well.
Control of spectrum is one huge--and often decisive--advantage for any provider of a spectrum-based service. For those reasons, regulators seeking to stimulate and promote competition often use spectrum access policies as a tool to encourage new or existing competitors.
That is the thinking behind the 600-MHz incentive auction spectrum reserve. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will not allow either AT&T or Verizon to bid on 20 percent of any available spectrum, reserving such spectrum for other providers.
Similar thinking underlies spectrum trading policies in the Indian market, where no single mobile operator is allowed to earn more than a fixed percentage of all available local spectrum.
The stance to be taken by Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission regarding an important license renewal, additional spectrum releases and management of some of TOT’s facilities might provide another a case in point, though the situation is at the moment confusing.
No comments:
Post a Comment