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Published on August 21, 2007

The amendment mandates the establishment of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), to be run by nine commissioners. This is in line with Article 47 of the new constitution that was approved in Sunday's national referendum and which mandates the creation of one single telecom and broadcasting watchdog.

Of the nine NBTC commissioners, three will be from the telecom sector and three from the broadcasting industry, plus one representative each from the economic, consumer-protection and legal fields.

Once the commissioners select a chairman and two vice chairmen, the other six commissioners will be divided into two groups to form the telecom and broadcast screening committees.

All nine commissioners will jointly recruit eight outsiders from the fields of religion, culture and education, assigning four of them to work with the telecom screening committee and the other four with the broadcast screening committee.

Only the NBTC board will have the authority to issue licences, not the two screening committees, said Somkiat Tangkitvanit, secretary of the NLA subcommittee that drafted the amendment.

Among the highlights of the draft amendment is a new process for selecting the nine commissioners that ensures transparency.

The draft outlines the setting up of three groups from the telecom sector: one consisting of representatives of operators with networks, one of operators without networks and one of telecom experts. Similarly, three groups to be set up from the broadcasting sector will consist of one representing operators with networks, one of operators without networks and one of broadcasting experts. A seventh group will be set up consisting of economics academics and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Each group will propose 12-18 candidates for the government's consideration. The groups must specify which of their members supported the nomination of which candidates, in order to ensure transparency.

The NBTC commissioners representing the telecom and broadcast sectors will be picked from among the telecom groups' and broadcast groups' nominees, respectively, while the economist and NGO group's nominees will fill the posts allotted to representatives of the economic, consumer-protection and legal fields.

Somkiat said each group would have 90 days to submit its list of candidates once the selection process began.

The government will eliminate candidates until there are no fewer than 18 and then submit their names to the Senate, which will select nine to run the NBTC.

The Senate's process of selecting the commissioners will be done openly, so that people will know which senators selected which candidates.

Commissioners will have six-year terms. The members of the first NBTC must draw lots after four years to determine who will vacate two-thirds of the posts, so that new members may be appointed. The remaining three original commissioners will be replaced when their terms expire two years later, the six newcomers four years after that and so on.

If the NLA approves the draft amendment tomorrow, it will then be forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration.

The previous selection method required state agencies, educational institutes and professional associations in the telecom sector to select representatives to form a 17-member committee that would choose National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) candidates from all walks of life. That same process was prescribed to select NBC commissioners.

The previous constitution mandated independent regulation of the telecom and broadcasting industries but did not specify the number of regulators. The existing Frequency Allocation Act specified the establishment of one telecom regulator and one broadcasting regulator.

The NLA's science committee decided that the two watchdogs should be merged for better efficiency in regulating the two sectors.

Somkiat said the existing NTC could continue regulating the industry even though the new constitution has been approved. Article 305 of the new constitution stipulates that Article 47 relating to the formation of the NBTC will not be implemented until the new Frequency Allocation Act is enacted.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation