NBTC announces time frame for awarding satellite orbits

The Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has announced the timeline for the auction to award the two unsold orbital slot packages for 50.5° East and 142° East.
Companies must submit their proposals by Oct 7. The regulator expects to announce the names of the winning bidders by Oct 17.
NBTC commissioner Somphop Purivigraipong said the bidders’ qualifications and proposals will be considered from Oct 8-10, while negotiations with bidders on proposal details is slated for Oct 11, with results of the consideration process submitted to the NBTC board on Oct 16.
Mr Somphop said NBTC amended the core conditions for awarding the two packages via a combined method of open direct award and beauty contest. The move is the latest effort to ease the auction conditions to attract potential bidders and ensure the successful awarding.
According to the latest conditions announced in the Royal Gazette on Sept 26, when scoring the proposals it gives 40% weight to the bidder’s readiness to keep the right to use such orbital slots, followed by the bidder’s experience at 25%.
Matters related to finances and details of financial guarantees for orbital using rights are at 20%, and the return rate to the state gets a 15% weight.
The NBTC board recently agreed to scrap the condition that required winning bidders to send satellites into orbit within three years. However, the winning bidders will be required to keep the country’s right to use such orbits through several alternatives.
Mr Somphop said he believes the 50.5°E slot will be more interesting than the 142°E slot because the former covers more land.
Although the coverage of the 50.5°E slot is the Indian Ocean, the northern section can cover southern Europe, the east connects to South Asia and the Middle East, and the west connects to North Africa. The 142°E slot covers only Australia in terms of commercial markets.
In January 2023, NBTC held the country’s first auction of satellite orbit slots through five packages: 50.5° East and 51°E orbital slots with a starting price of 374 million baht; 78.5°E with a reserve price of 360 million baht; 119.5°E and 120°E with a 397 million baht reserve price; 126°E with a 8.6 million baht reserve price; and 142°E with a 189 million baht reserve price.
Space Tech Innovation, an affiliated company of SET-listed Thaicom, won the second package for 380 million baht and the third package for 417 million baht. National Telecom won the fourth package for 9.07 million baht.
The first and fifth packages were left unsold. NBTC previously planned to auction them off on Aug 24.
Only two companies picked up bid envelopes, but they did not submit them by the July 23 deadline. This prompted the regulator to develop new conditions for a fresh auction.