The National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) said on Friday that the country’s long-awaited auction for the third-generation (3G) mobile phone license could be delayed to February 2010 as the documentation process may take longer than planned.

Mr. Settaporn Kusripitak, a member of NTC, told reporters that the board of regulators will discuss about its questionable authority, which is given by the constitute law, whether it has the authority to solely hold the auction.

Mr. Settaporn said the process would take around 45-60 days, resulting to the auction to postpone to February 2010.

He said the auction of 3G license would generate around $1.2 billion to the state.

Reserve prices for non-transferable 3G licenses on 2.1 MHz bandwidth start at 4.6 billion baht and on 10.0 MHz and 15.0 bandwidths start at 5.2 billion baht.