Telecom and media groups have divided opinions on the state movement to establish one single telecommunications and broadcasting regulator body.

Assoc Professor Surat Metheekul, president of the Council of Mass Communication Faculty Members of Thailand, said the country needs two separate regulators, given that each industry has different goals and expertise.

The broadcasting sector does not focus on the technical hardware but rather on the social dimension. To have one single telecom and broadcasting regulator, the licensing body would be technology driven, he said in a seminar called "Merging the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) with the National Telecommuni-cations Commission (NTC): Is it necessary in the borderless world?"

The seminar was hosted by the Thai language daily newspaper Krungthep Turakij last week.

The media group's opposition to the proposed NTC-NBC merger is in reaction to Article 47 of the draft constitution, which states that one independent state regulatory body shall be created to regulate both telecommunications and broadcasting sectors.

While the NTC has been functioning for three years, the country has yet to create the NBC, prompting a delay in the allocation of new licences for both broadcasting and telecommunications frequencies.

The existing frequency-allocation law mandates both licensing bodies jointly allocate new parts of the broadcasting spectrum. The Central Administrative Court ruled in November 2005 to invalidate the process of selecting 14 candidates for the NBC seats, citing its unconstitutionality.

Somkiat Tangkitvanit, a telecom scholar from the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the NBC-NTC merger is in line with the global trend of the converging broadcasting and telecom technologies. A single regulator would mean unity in overseeing both sectors, he added.

"In the case of two regulators, a cable operator may want to connect with the network of an NTC telecom licensee but the latter denies the request. In this situation, a problem would arise, as the NBC cannot order the NTC's licensee to provide the access," he added.

Somkiat is a member of the subcommittee of the science and information committee of the National Legislative Assembly, which initiated the study of amendments to the frequency-allocation law.

According to the study, the law should be amended to pave the way for the establishment of a legal entity with regulatory power over both telecommunications and broadcasting.

While supporting Somkiat, True Corp's vice chairman Athueck Asvanund said that all the broadcasting concessions should be converted to licences with a new single regulator. This would make existing operators and new entrants stand on an equal-licence basis and under the same regulations.

Jamnan Siritan, president of the Radio and Television Broadcasting Professional Federation, said some broadcasters do not regard whether the country has one single or two separate licensing bodies as an important matter. What they want to see are new frequencies allocated as early as possible, by whatever means.

Sirivish Toomgum

The Nation