BANGLADESH

Telecom regulator BTRC has awarded three different types of licences to 78 companies to operate in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission chairman Zia Ahmed handed over the licences to the representatives of the firms at a programme at the commission's conference room on Thursday.

"The telecom operators have some call-sharing issues with the companies who just got the licences. We will sit with everyone and solve the issues," he said.

The operators, who are already in the business, have been opposing the government move to allow so many companies in the telecom sector saying 'this would upset the balance in the telecommunication market'.

BTRC sent letters to 82 firms on Mar 8 asking them to collect their licences after the post and telecommunications ministry finalised a list of 85 licence seekers. Of them, 78 companies paid the licence fees until Wednesday.

Now bangladesh start their 3g licence work in step 3.when 3g comes bangladesh fully then we are get good tecnology and our communication will be fast.The telecom regulator has proposed to award licences for 3G mobile service in the country on Sep 3.

In its draft guideline for issuing licence, the regulator – Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) – has also clarified that in all, five mobile phone operators would be awarded 3G licence and not four, as decided previously.

BTRC chairman Maj Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed confirmed that the draft titled "Cellular Mobile Phone Service (3G/4G/LTE) Regulatory Licence Guideline 2012" was forwarded to the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications on Wednesday afternoon.

He said the process of distributing the licence would begin once the ministry finalises the draft.

Earlier, BTRC finalised the draft guidelines providing scope for awarding 3G mobile service licence with options to upgrade to 4G and long-term evolution (LTE) without any extra fees.

3G LICENCE AWARDEES

Teletalk will get the licence as the state-owned firm while three others would be selected from the existing five private mobile operating companies. The fifth one to get the licence will be a new operator, said Zia.

The licence would be valid for a period of 15 years.

AUCTION TECHNICALITIES

According to the draft guideline, the licences will be auctioned again if at least two operators do not take licences.

Zia Ahmed, however, expressed hope that more than five operators would be eager to buy licences.

AUCTION PROCESS BEGINS MAY 7

The draft states that advertisement for the auction would be published on May 7.

The operators will have to apply to take part in the auction on July 12 and the name of the operators eligible to take part in the auction would be made public on July 19.

BTRC chairman said the draft proposes $30 million as bid money for every megahertz of spectrum.

If the draft gets final nod, the operators will have to pay Tk 500,000 to apply for the auction and Tk 100 million as the licence fee. The licence holders will have to pay 5.5 percent revenue sharing and one percent social obligation fees every year.

LICENCE HANDOVER WITHIN NOVEMBER

The draft says that every operator willing to take the licences will have to pay the same amount as called by the highest bidder.

"The operators will receive the licences within 60 working days from the day bidding is held", Zia Ahmed said referring to the guideline.

3G ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN 3 YRS

The draft guideline proposes to take 3G services to other parts of the country within three years. "The operators will have to extend network in three phases."

It also talks of Tk 1.5-billion bank guarantee for a 3G licence, out of which BTRC would take away Tk 500 million if the operators fail to meet any phase of the targeted network. In case of their success in one phase, Tk 500 million would be refunded.

Old operators, who already have 2G services, would have to finish the first phase of network expansion in six divisions within six months and the new ones within a year.

Old operators will be given 18 months for the second phase of network expansion in 30 percent districts and new ones will get two years.

The last phase will have to be finished within three years of licence issuance.

The telecom regulator has finalised the draft of the guidelines for awarding 3G mobile service licence with options to upgrade to 4G and long-term evolution (LTE) without any extra fees.

In the draft, the regulator -- Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) -- has proposed to give four companies the licences including two from existing five private mobile operators and a new one.

Teletalk will get the licence as state-owned firm.

"The draft will be sent to the telecommunications ministry next week," BTRC chairman Zia Ahmed told bdnews24.com in an interview on Thursday.

The work to award the licences would be complete by June or July after the ministry nods the guidelines, he added.

On Aug 9, a high-profile meeting of senior ministers and advisors chaired by the prime minister Sheikh Hasina took the decision to auction the wireless telecom spectrum to facilitate nationwide spread of 3G technology and wireless broadband services.

Ahmed had earlier said both local and foreign firms would be able to bid for the spectrum.

A top BTRC official has said 3G licence holders will be able to upgrade licences to 4G or LTE without any fee once the Cellular Mobile Phone Service (3G/4G/LTE) Regulatory Licence Guideline 2012 is cleared.

In the draft guidelines, the fee for every megahertz has been proposed at Tk 1.5 billion.

The floor price of 3G licence auction has been set Tk 15 billion.

The BTRC chairman said the estimated revenue from 3G licence is Tk 80 billion.

State-owned Teletalk, along with private operators Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi, Airtel and Citycell, is offering 2G services now.

The 3G technology will make mobile telephony much more efficient, with high-speed data transfer facilitating users to watch mobile TV, make video calls, using navigation equipment and access many other services.

LTE's data transfer speed is 80 percent higher than 3G.

Experts say 4G and LTE are same. Its download speed is 100 megabyte per second and upload speed is 50 Mb/S.

LTE's data pipe is built in such a way that users are able to do work of desktop computers with their mobile phones.

After losing a court battle against Grameenphone, the telecoms regulator is writing to the top mobile-phone operator asking for nearly Tk 4 billion, including late fees, to renew its 2G licence.

"The account of Grameenphone's dues in licence renewal and spectrum fees and dues [in late fees] since 2010 have been finalised," Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Zia Ahmed told on Tuesday.

"A letter asking them to pay the dues will be sent to Grameenphone [Wednesday]," he added.

The BTRC chairman said the work to finalise accounts of dues of other operators Banglalink, Robi and Citycell is underway. "Letters will be sent to them, as well."

Their licences will not be renewed until they pay up the dues, Ahmed, a retired brigadier general, said.

A senior BTRC officer, seeking anonymity, said the amount of Greenphone's dues totalled Tk 3.965 billion.

He said the amount includes Tk 2.492 billion, including late fees, in dues for first instalment for fees for licence renewal and spectrum allocation and Tk 1.47 billion in dues as late fees from 2010.

The late fee for the first instalment of Grameenphone's licence renewal and spectrum allocation is Tk 95.6 million and the late fee for the dues from 2010 is Tk 151.6 million, the officer said.

"Grameenphone gave the first instalment of fees for spectrum and licence renewal, excluding 15 percent tax at source, in November 2011. The dues totalled Tk 2.492 billion as late fee was charged from then," he said.

The operator has been paying annual licence renewal fees, revenue and spectrum fees, excluding 15 percent tax at source, since 2010, he said. "So it will have to pay dues of Tk 1.47 billion, including late fees."

The BTRC chairman said on Monday that Grameenphone's licence will be renewed once it pays Tk 2.4 billion.

Grameenphone moved the High Court when the BTRC in a letter on Oct 17 asked the leading telecom operator to pay dues in spectrum fees.

The operator said the regulator claimed Tk 2.36 billion 'extra' fees for 7.4 MHz spectrum for the year 2008. The High Court on Monday said Grameenphone's assertion was legal.

The court, however, declared valid the BTRC claim of dues in fees for 14.6 MHz spectrum.