Satellite auction raises 806 million baht from sale of three slots

None of the three qualified companies bid for packages one or five, while the commission auctioned off the other three for a combined 806.076 million baht, it said.

Last week, three companies were given approval by the commission to participate in the auction: Space Tech Innovation, a subsidiary of satellite service provider Thaicom, Prompt Technical Services, a company registered in 2000 as an electrical installation service firm, and state-run National Telecom.

The five packages, which Thailand had received from the International Telecommunication Union, are:

● Package 1: 50.5 degrees East slot with C1, N1 and P1R networks and 51 degrees East with 51 network. Bidding started at 374 million baht.

● Package 2: 78.5 degrees East with A2B and LSX2R networks. Bidding started at 360 million baht.

● Package 3: 119.5 degrees East with IP1, P3 and LSX3R networks and 120 degrees East with 120E network. Bidding started at 397 million baht.

● Package 4: 126 degrees East with 126E network. Bidding started at 8.06 million baht.

● Package 5: 142 degrees East with G3K and N5 networks. Bidding started at 189 million baht.

Representatives of the three companies arrived at the commission’s head office at 7am to start preparing for the auction. Bidding started at 10 am after commission chairman Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck made a speech to launch the auction.

The auction was held in the so-called sequential ascending clock method with each round of bidding lasting 20 minutes. Interested bidders had to tap to raise the price of a package, with each limited to 5% of the starting price.

Lots were drawn to arrange the order of the bidding to prevent collusion. Packages were auctioned in the following order: 4, 3, 5, 2 and 1.

The commission has yet to announce the names of the winning bids for the three packages.

Reporters said Package 4 was auctioned in two minutes, with one tap from one bidder. A satellite on the slot of Package 4 can be used for both broadcasting and telecommunications in the Asia-Pacific region. It was sold for 9.076 million baht.

The auction for Package 3, which can be used for broadband telecommunication over Southeast Asia, North Asia, Australia and Indochina, started at 10:15am and ended at 10.21 am with one tap from one bidder. It was sold for 417 million baht.

The IT department suspended the bidding for 10 minutes due to a system error. The auction resumed at 10:40 am with the auction of Package 5, which covers the Asia-Pacific region. The bidding ended at 10:46 am with the “unsold” sign announced on the system’s board.

Bidding for Package 2 began at 11am. The slot can be used for a broadcast satellite and there are already two satellites in the area, which are Thaicom 6 and Thaicom 8.

The first round of Package 2’s auction ended at 11.05am with two bidders competing. The second round started at 11.10am and ended at 11:16am with one bidder getting the package for 380 million baht.

Bidding for Package 1 started at 11:30am and ended at 11:36 am with no bids.