The Association of Digital Television Broadcasting (ADTEB) is vehemently opposed to the regulator's plan to auction off part of the 3500-megahertz spectrum.
Association members voiced their opposition at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's (NBTC) public hearing on the plan to auction off seven spectrum bands on Tuesday, saying the intention to license the 3500MHz band is "too rushed" as there are unclear details on the migration of digital TV customers watching on this band to other frequencies.
The auctioning off of the band could directly affect the digital TV broadcasting landscape as many satellite TV stations now use the band to air digital TV programmes, and 60% of Thais view digital TV via a satellite platform.
All digital TV broadcasting licences expire in 2029.
According to ADTEB president Suphap Kleekajai, the digital TV broadcasters have faced challenges starting from the NBTC auction of licences of 24 digital TV channels in 2013.
The auction fetched a combined bid payment of 50 billion baht.
Only 15 digital TV channels remain after some broadcasters decided to cease operations due to financial burdens.
"We did not come [to the hearing] to ask for our funeral expenses. Rather, we want to ask that our breathing tubes not be cut off," said Mr Suphap.
Earlier NBTC had planned to organise hearings on the six bands, the 850-megahertz, 1500MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz, and 26GHz, but then decided to put the 3500MHz in Tuesday's hearing too.
Besides Mr Suphap, a group of ADTEB's board of directors also attended the hearing Tuesday, including Takonkiet Viravan, group chairman of the One Enterprise Plc, and Paiboon Damrongchaitham, chairman of GMM Grammy.
Mr Suphap said ADTEB is concerned that NBTC is moving too fast in pushing the 3500MHz auction while it has yet to have any solutions in dealing with problems regarding the band.
The association also urged NBTC to scrap its plan to auction the 3500-3800MHz range for a telecom service as it may affect more than 10 million TV viewers.
Digital TV broadcasting was officially launched in 2014, but the set-top boxes for receiving the channels had been distributed by NBTC later than expected. Only 10% of Thai households now view digital TV channels via the set-top boxes.
Digital TV broadcasting has declined as streaming content became more popular, eating into advertising revenue for the channels.
Mr Paiboon said ADTEB members need to use 3500MHz to air programmes until at least 2029. He said ADTEB reserves the right to file a complaint with the Administrative Court against NBTC for any negative effect concerning the 3500MHz band.
He said NBTC should auction only three spectrum bands being used for partnerships between state enterprise National Telecom (NT) and private telecom operators. The partnerships expire in August this year for the 850MHz, 2100MHz and 2300MHz bands.
Previously, NBTC commissioner Somphop Purivigraipong said the plan to license the 3500MHz band should come with a practical solution to migrate those using C-band satellite dishes to watch TV on Ku-band satellite dishes.
Mr Somphop said the idea to auction only three spectrums under NT's partnership would be proposed to the NBTC board for consideration.