NBTC plan to call for bids for new digital TV licences opposed

“All operators agreed that the process is not necessary. We urge the NBTC to come up with an alternative method that would allow operators to continue providing services,” Suphab Kleekachai, president of the Association of Digital Television Broadcasting, said on Monday.

He added that the new method should ask operators to pay the licence fee at an appropriate rate, while still maintaining NBTC’s impartiality and fairness in broadcasting resources allocation.

The petition submitted on Monday also expressed digital TV operators’ opposition to the NBTC’s planned auction of 3500 MHz frequency for commercial telecom use, pointing out that the new band would affect income from advertising and viewership of current digital TV businesses.

Suphab cited a survey conducted by AC Nielsen which found that 60% of digital TV viewers in Thailand are on the satellite network, and only 10% are using digital set-top boxes issued by the NBTC.

“Pushing the 3,500MHz frequency would also require digital TV viewers nationwide to buy new equipment,” he said. “We urge the NBTC to consider the impact on operators and viewers before going ahead with the 3500 MHz auction.”

Among the operators who turned up at the NBTC headquarters on Monday were GMM25, Thairath TV, One 31 Channel, and Nation TV.