5G spectrum auction in March

The government is planning to hold 5G spectrum auctions in March next year for private mobile phone operators, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder yesterday.

The BTRC has already allotted 60MHz spectrum to state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk on a refundable condition to launch 5G services by December 12 this year.

Sikder was addressing views with members of Telecom Reporters' Network, Bangladesh, an association of journalists focusing the telecommunications and information technology sector.

The auction will have 65 MHz allocated in the 2,300 MHz band, 100 MHz in the 2,600 MHz band and 460 MHz in the 3,500 MHz band.

In response to a question, Sikder said the quality of 4G services has not been fully ensured so far and this issue was also being monitored by the BTRC.

He said the BTRC tested out service quality in 12,600 square kilometres of 228 upazilas and found none of the mobile operators to be providing top-notch service.

Grameenphone accounted for the highest number of call drops, he said.

The two main causes for the call drops are inadequate spectrum and low connectivity through fiber optic cables among base transceiver stations.

He hoped for the 5G spectrum auction to increase operators' wireless capacity and thereby, ensuring better 4G services.

Operating on high-frequency bands, the 5G will offer a lot of capacity but cover short distances, meaning it will primarily be an urban service for densely populated areas, says the BBC.

Lower-frequency bands (600-800Mhz typically) are better over longer distances, so network operators will concentrate on improving their 4G LTE coverage in parallel with 5G roll-out, it said.