Thailand's telecoms regulator said on Tuesday it expected a long-delayed auction for third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences to be held this year despite market scepticism over the timetable.

"We want it to happen this year," Prasit Prapinmongkolkarn, one of the members of the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC), told reporters after four new members took office this week.

Some analysts expect the auction to be delayed to 2011, given the uncertainty over domestic politics.

Licensing is seen as a key step in reforming the $4.7 billion sector because companies will pay licence fees instead of giving a portion of their revenue to state-owned firms for the right to operate networks they built themselves, as is the case now.

source:Reuters