Thailand has delayed the allocation of 4G licences at the request of its new military rulers.

The country needs more time to work out the details of the auction process and to make sure the spectrum is allocated in a transparent manner, Reuters reported, citing a statement from regulatory body the National Broadcasting and Telecoms Commission (NBTC).

The country's first 4G licence auction was due to take place in August, at which time Thailand planned to reallocate a chunk of 1800-MHz spectrum previously used for 2G services.

Earlier this year the NBTC ordered two operators – True Move and AIS unit Digital Phone Co – to close down their remaining 2G services by the end of June in order to free up spectrum for the auction.

According to Reuters, Thailand also planned to auction off spectrum in the 900-MHz band in December.

The newswire quoted Wichian Mektrakarn, CEO of mobile market leader AIS, as saying that if the auction is delayed until next year there could be some impact on its business. But rival DTAC played down the move, insisting it has sufficient spectrum for now.