Thai court confirms 3G auction freeze
A Thai appeals court has upheld a decision to postpone the country’s long-awaited auction of third-generation mobile telecommunications licences, throwing the plans of the country’s mobile operators into disarray and raising concerns about Thailand’s competitiveness in the region.
The National Telecommunications Commission should have started accepting bids on Monday, but late last week a court issued an injunction after two state agencies involved in licensing 2G, the current generation of mobile services, challenged the commission’s right to hold the auction.
Thursday’s court decision means that Thailand’s first 3G licences would not be issued until the government has passed legislation to empower a new telecoms authority to organise the auction, a process that could take up to a year.
