BTTB mobile project set to miss Dec deadline

State-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) is set to miss the December 2004 deadline to launch its much-talked-about mobile phone services, industry sources said.

Sources said with only less than 60 days left, BTTB is unlikely to launch the 2.5 lakh GSM (global system for mobile) phones by this year as it is yet to start works on infrastructure development.

When asked about the possibility of the launch by the year-end, Post and Telecommunications Minister M Aminul Haque at the inaugural function of a cellphone fair yesterday said, "Wait and see," declining to elaborate on the progress of the BTTB''s infrastructure development.

At a press conference last month, the minister expressed optimism to launch the mobile services by December.

The BTTB is yet to select the sites for base stations and erect towers. The necessary equipment has not yet reached its store. BTTB will require signing lease agreements with several hundred private building owners to set up its base stations.

Officials of BTTB''s mobile project, however, claimed the installation of base stations and towers is being delayed as the government does not have any guideline to sign such agreements with private parties.

Moreover, Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the telecoms regulator, is yet to allocate the very frequency demanded by the BTTB. It sought 1,800 MHz frequency to roll out its network while the BTRC has allocated 900 MHz frequency.

Worst still, BTTB is yet to start negotiations for interconnection agreements with private cellphone operators.

The state telecoms operator earlier awarded the job for its mobile phone project to German telecom equipment vendor Siemens Mobile Communications and Chinese company Huawei Technologies.

BTTB awarded the job for package-1 to Siemens at a cost of $28.73 million (Tk 168.20 crore) while Huawei Technologies was selected to implement package-2 of the project at a cost of $23.72 million (Tk138.88 crore) to supply, install, testing and commissioning of the GSM project.

BTTB has divided the 2.5 lakh capacity GSM mobile project into two packages. The package-1 consists of installation, testing, commissioning of the mobile project in Dhaka and Sylhet regions while package-2 includes the same in Chittagong, Bogra, and Khulna regions.