Court rules NBTC secretary general selection illegal, orders new selection

The Administrative Court ruled yesterday that the selection process for the secretary general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) is illegal and should be revised.

The court stated that the selection and appointment of the secretary-general of the NBTC, Thailand’s broadcasting and telecom regulator, should be the responsibility of the entire board of the NBTC, just the board chairman or particular members of the board.

The case was referred to the Administrative Court by a candidate for the secretary-general’s post, Surangkana Wayuparb, who accused the board chairman, Professor Sarana Boonbaichaiyapruck MD, and the board of exceeding their authority and dishonestly using their discretion in the selection process.

The chairman or the board has the right to appeal against the court’s ruling to the Supreme Administrative within 30 days. If the Supreme Administrative Court upholds the lower court’s ruling or rejects the appeal, the case is concluded and the NBTC will have to restart the selection process.

Surangkana told the media, after the court’s ruling, that she initiated the case so the court could set a precedent for an independent organisation like the NBTC, to ensure that it is transparent in the selection of those who are to assume an important post in such an organization.

Meanwhile, People’s party’s MP Rukchanok Srinork questioned yesterday why Sarana and the board had set the minimum bidding prices of the 2,100MHz and 2,300MHz spectrum bands at the “fire sale” levels of 4.5 billion baht and 2.6 billion baht respectively.

She said that, about a decade ago, Advance Info Service (AIS) were renting the 2,100MHz band from the state-run National Telecom (NT) for 12 billion baht and DTAC rented the 2,300MHz band for 7.3 billion baht.

Rukchanok also asked why the board did not use the prices of about a decade ago as the basis for setting the bid prices for a new auction, to be held on June 29th. There are currently only two players major in Thailand’s telecom service market, AIS and True (which has merged with DTAC).

She claimed that the bid start prices are ridiculously low.