Govt meets mobile operators' demands
In a surprise move the government yesterday decided to amend the guidelines on 4G service by incorporating the mobile operators' concerns, lifting the shroud of uncertainty surrounding the technology's long-delayed roll-out in Bangladesh.
As many as 22 of the 23 concerns raised by Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh about the guideline were sorted after a meeting with Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, held at the premier's official residence on Wednesday.
The adviser took note of the concerns and asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to amend the guidelines accordingly. An amended guideline is likely to be issued within a week.
In a separate programme yesterday, Joy also said the government has sorted out 22 of the 23 concerns raised by the operators.
"The last one will be resolved within a few days," he said at the launch of PayPal service in Bangladesh.
During Wednesday's three-hour meeting, the government decided to lift the restriction on the source of funding. The telecom watchdog had earlier recommended making it mandatory that all investment was in foreign currency.
But mobile operators now can invest in 4G after borrowing from local banks -- a move that will ultimately help banks as they are sitting on idle money.
As per the new decision, the operators will not be required to obtain the no-objection certificate from the telecom regulator in advance about their corporate social responsibility projects.
The meeting also decided to redefine 4G services in terms of speed.
According to the existing guideline, the minimum speed would be 100 Mbps when the users are in move and 1 Gbps when they are not moving.
Operators said this was not technically impossible but would need huge investment. As a result, the service will be costly.
Joy accepted the argument and asked officials to redefine it, said a top official of the BTRC who was present in the meeting.
The guideline also empowers the regulator to take back all the unused balance of mobile users. The provision will now be dropped, the BTRC official said.
As per the new decision, operators will not have to store subscribers' usage data for 12 years. It will be brought down to 3 to 5 years after consulting with law enforcement agencies.
The meeting also decided to scrap the provision that said the telecom regulator can change the percentage of revenue sharing from time to time -- a clause that has created panic amongst operators.
Operators will now have to share 5.5 percent of their revenues from 4G service with the telecom regulator and the percentage will remain the same for the next 15 years.
Mobile operators also demanded that the government revisit the pricing of spectrum and the charge for technology neutrality.
No concrete decision on the issues came at the meeting as it will require the finance ministry's consent.
The meeting decided that operators can take neutrality for as much spectrum as they want -- a move that will save operators huge amounts.
The guideline made it mandatory for the operators to obtain technology-neutrality for all of the spectrums they own.
At present, market leader Grameenphone is using 22 MHz of spectrum for 2G services. Robi has 26.4 MHz, Banglalink 15 MHz and state-owned Teletalk 15.2 MHz spectrum.
Technology neutrality charge remains $75 lakh per megahertz.
"It is too good to believe given the response we got from the adviser," said a top official of a mobile operator requesting not to be named.
State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim said the government wants to roll out 4G service by December.
Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of the BTRC; Shyam Sunder Sikder, telecom secretary; Md Jahurul Haque, legal commissioner of the BTRC; Michael Patrick Foley, chief executive officer of Grameenphone; Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, CEO of Robi; Erik Aas, CEO of Banglalink; Kazi Md Golam Quddus, CEO of Teletalk; TIM Nurul Kabir, general secretary of the AMTOB, were present at the meeting.
On the same issue, the adviser yesterday sat in a meeting with senior officials from the BTRC and the telecom division at the ministry.
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