GP may be left out of first round of airwave auction
Grameenphone may not be able to take part in the upcoming auction of 1,800 megahertz spectrum band on April 30.
Operators who have spectrum less than 20 MHz in the GSM bands -- 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz -- that provide voice services are eligible to participate in the auction, according to a guideline.
Grameenphone is the only operator that has more than 20 MHz spectrum in those bands.
The guideline on assignment of spectrum was sent to the telecom ministry recently for approval.
If the entire sellable spectrum of 10.6 MHz is not sold in the first round of auction, Grameenphone will be able to take part in the second round, according to the guideline.
It means that in the first round of auction, only Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Teletalk and Citycell will be offered to purchase two blocks of spectrum -- 5.6 MHz and 5 MHz each.
But if any block remains unsold after the first round, Grameenphone will be called in to participate, according to the guideline.
Grameenphone has termed the policy 'discriminatory'.
Mahmud Hossain, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, said, “We are yet to see any indication of the promised resolutions from the government. Moreover, we also noted during the meeting at the ministry that there are discriminatory provisions in the proposed spectrum auction."
"In the circumstances, we cannot make an investment decision before these critical issues are resolved,” he said.
The telecom regulator proposed each megahertz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band at a starting price of $30 million, which is efficibent for voice services in urban areas. This is also a business-friendly band for 4G or long term evolution (LTE) services.
Md Sarwar Alam, secretary and spokesperson of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, said the regulator has proposed this policy to create a level-playing field among the operators so that no operator holds excess spectrum.
He said Grameenphone already has 22 MHz of GSM spectrum, which is enough to provide good quality services. Other operators need more spectrum to provide quality services, which will create competition among the operators, he added.
When new technology will be allowed, Grameenphone will be able to provide new services but some other operators will not, as they have fewer spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band, Alam said.
At the same time, he said the regulator has already allowed operators to share towers and is now working to allow active infrastructure sharing, which will reduce investment costs.
Through active infrastructure sharing, operators will be allowed to share their switches or base stations.
The regulator also proposed the 2,100 MHz band at $22 million per megahertz, which the operators currently use for 3G services. All the operators are eligible to participate in the auction to purchase 15 MHz of airwave in this segment.
Another official of Grameenphone said the operator may have more spectrum than others, but it is also serving the maximum subscriber base of 43 percent in the market. So, in the future, Grameenphone will require more spectrum to offload LTE services, the official added.
In 2011, when 2G licences of the mobile operators were renewed, Grameenphone paid much higher than other operators.
All the mobile operators in Bangladesh had almost the same amount of spectrum -- around 15 MHz -- when they received licences, but later in 2008 and 2013, Grameenphone purchased additional spectrum that took the operator ahead compared to other operators in terms of airwave sharing.
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