Junta agrees on 3 methods to help 22 digital TV operators

The National Council for Peace and Order agreed at a meeting today (April 24) to help ease the financial burden of 22 digital TV operators through three options, said government spokesman Lt-Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd today (April 24).

The three methods which were agreed upon by the junta are:

1. All the 22 digital TV operators will be given a two-year debt moratorium after which they will have to pay the remaining three instalments of license fee to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on yearly basis.  Previous option was for the operators to pay the remaining three instalments this year, 2019 and 2020 respectively.
2. The state will shoulder 50 percent of the network rental fees of the digital TV operators.
3. Digital TV operators who do not want to carry on with the business can transfer their licenses to new players.

Gen Sansern said the NBTC would work out the details of the three methods and then notify the operators to follow its instructions based on the three methods.

He said that the methods to rescue digital TV operators would be enforced in the form of Section 44 of the interim Constitution expected to be issued by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as the NCPO chief later this week.

As for the license fees of the two mobile operators, AIS and True, which are seeking postponement of the payment of license fees for their 1800 and 900 megahertz bandwidths, Gen Sansern said that their cases are being under consideration as their cases are different from the digital TVs’.