The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is floating a new idea to issue what it called "tower dual-location licences" to any network owners to participate in a licensing auction for the 2100-megahertz frequency.
Under the plan, operators would share the rights to use a tower.
The plan is aimed at encouraging newcomers to jump into the 3G auction, scheduled for the middle of this year, said Sethapong Malisuwan, the NBTC's vice-chairman and head of the telecom subcommittee.
Network roaming details would need to be revised if the tower co-licence idea passes a resolution by the board. Obstacles to new bidding would be also considered.
Col Sethapong said the NBTC subcommittee is planning to award no more than three licences to winning bidders to operate wireless broadband services on the 2100-MHz frequency, with 15-MHz bandwidth each.
The reserve price for a 3G licence and the number of licences issued will be reconsidered as conditions change.
The National Telecommunications Commission, the former incarnation of the NBTC, had set a reserve bid price of 12.8 billion baht. It planned to use a N-1 approach, meaning the number of licences available would be equal to the number of bidders minus one.
The NBTC yesterday held its first subcommittee meeting on preparations for allocating frequencies on the 2100-MHz band for IMT 2000 (advanced services).
Col Sethapong added the new licences should not be identified as 3G licences because rapidly changing technology is likely to bring 4G (LTE) to Thailand soon.
The subcommittee is also considering whether to reserve some of the 2100-MHz bandwidth for public service.
The NBTC is preparing to ask major mobile operators to discuss their service limits on mobile number portability (MNP). Consumers complained that major mobile operators limit their MNP service to 2,000 numbers per day while small operators limit it to 500 numbers.
Operators' MNP systems have the capacity of 40,000 numbers per day. They allow users to retain numbers when changing from one operator to another.