NBTC board set to hold hearing in June

The new board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has set an initial timeline to hold a hearing for the draft of the country’s first auction of satellite orbital slot rights in June.

Bidding was scrapped last year and remains stuck in limbo. On Aug 18 last year, the regulator decided to cancel an auction scheduled for Aug 28 as SET-listed Thaicom, through its wholly owned company TC Space Connect, was the only bidder.

The NBTC then amended a condition of the auction, with the draft scheduled to be put up for a hearing next month, said a source close to the NBTC who requested anonymity.

The hearing is slated to last for 30 days to gather the opinions of stakeholders, both offline and online.

The source said a proposal that some specific satellite orbital slots would have to be allocated for National Telecom (NT) to use for security…