The national telecom regulator plans to auction 80 megahertz of bandwidth on the 2600MHz spectrum by June next year in preparation for the fifth generation (5G) of mobile broadband technology.
"5G, the next wave of mobile broadband service, is expected to be commercially launched worldwide by 2020," said Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
The 2600MHz spectrum is owned by MCOT Plc and has 190MHz of bandwidth. Some 80MHz of bandwidth is not used by the state-owned public broadcaster.
MCOT said it would return the unused portion to the NBTC for reallocation in exchange for compensation.
Mr Takorn said the NBTC is on the verge of negotiating a compensation framework with MCOT.
Although the NBTC is not authorised to pay compensation to state agencies in return for frequencies before their concessions end, the regulator hopes the draft NBTC bill will allow it to do just that.
The bill is expected to come into effect in early 2017. The bill suggests the regulator could compensate state agencies that return spectrum, leading to better arrangement of spectrum slots.
After the draft bill takes effect, Mr Takorn said the NBTC would set up a working committee to determine compensation for spectrum returns. The details and amount of compensation provided to MCOT would be settled by March next year, he said.
The working committee would comprise representatives from state agencies such as the Finance Ministry, the Budget Bureau, the National Economic and Social Development Board and the Digital Economy and Society Ministry.
Alternatively, Mr Takorn said compensation might be provided to MCOT after the 2600MHz licensing auction took place.
"This will be a win-win solution for all parties," he said. "Mobile operators will get more spectrum bandwidth to eventually enhance the country's digital infrastructure, while MCOT will get returns for the unused band."
The NBTC expects to grant at least three licences during the 2600MHz band auctions, with two licences of 25MHz each and another of 30MHz.
Some global mobile operators, including China Mobile (the strategic partner of third-ranked local operator True Move), have asked the regulator to set a clear spectrum auction roadmap -- especially for 2600MHz, the most compatible band for 5G technology, Mr Takorn said.
Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive of True Move, said he is closely monitoring trends in global commercial 5G launches as operators attempt to serve skyrocketing data traffic demand, fuelled by the proliferation of connected consumers and machine-to-machine connectivity.
Mobile changed consumer behaviour quickly, evidenced by the doubling of mobile data over the past few years.
Mr Suphachai predicted that 3G-only devices will vanish from the Thai market in 2017 as consumers quickly migrate to 4G networks.
Mr Takorn said the NBTC believes that all mobile operators will need to hold more bandwidth over a variety of spectra to provide services because of projected strong mobile data demand over the next four years.
Mobile operators in Thailand provide services on a combined 250MHz of bandwidth over several spectrum ranges.
The sector needs at least 690MHz of bandwidth to develop 4G and 5G services efficiently by 2021, Mr Takorn said.
He said the planned 2600MHz license auction would be the only bid to take place in 2017.