Thai regulator plans to auction 3G licenses in 2011.(LICENSING)

Thailand's new telecom regulator, NBTC (National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission), hinted that it would carry out 3G auction by this year's end.

The regulator is busy preparing five-year plans that are expected to be concluded in May. According to the Bangkok Post, these plans would be implemented three months after the constitution of an 11-member board of the regulator. NBTC would start the auction of 2.1GHz licenses by the end of this year. Other contours of the deal include providing 10Mbps broadband service in rural areas to cover 50 percent of the population; providing urban users with 100Mbps Internet to encompass 15 percent of the population; and expanding basic telecom services to 99 percent of the population.