Tech neutrality a must for better telecom services

Bangladesh mobile operators need more freedom in using spectrum to offer more convenient internet services, said a senior official of Telenor.

Telenor wants tech neutrality in Bangladesh to increase its capacity to ensure better services, and it immediately needs more spectrum, said Tore Johnsen, who had been the CEO of Bangladesh's top mobile operator Grameenphone between 2011 and 2013. Telenor is the majority shareholder of Grameenphone.

Tech neutrality means the operators will have the choice to use any spectrum frequency for any purpose, a move that would bring down their production costs and enable them to offer better coverage.

Johnsen retired from Telenor Group and is now serving the group on a contract basis as the senior vice president for performance management in Asia region.

"Telenor would like to use the 700 band spectrum, which can ensure very good network coverage in Bangladesh," he told The Daily Star in an interview in Malaysia recently.

But when the 700 band would be available and what its price will be are the important issues, he said.

The telecom regulator in Bangladesh should draw a spectrum roadmap, which Johnsen thinks will help Telenor take decisions on new investments.

Johnsen said Grameenphone has no immediate plan to offer fourth generation (4G) mobile services with the 2100 band spectrum, by which the operator is now offering 3G services.

"We need tech neutrality and more spectrum to offer this modern service."

Out of its six ventures in Asia, Telenor launched 4G only in Thailand and is waiting for government's approval to introduce it in Malaysia.

In principle, Grameenphone enjoys tech neutrality in Bangladesh in 2100 band spectrum and can offer 4G services anytime, he said.

But the operator has only 10 MHz spectrum in the band, which is not enough to offer 4G services of good quality after serving the 3G customers, he said.

"If all our customers in Bangladesh start taking 3G services, we will have no spectrum left for 4G services. That's why we will not launch 4G in the 2100 band."

Currently, 1.5 crore out of 5.5 crore active subscribers of Grameenphone are taking 3G services.

Johnsen suggested the telecom regulator in Bangladesh offer more spectrum through open auctions and allow tech neutrality in the 900 and 1800 bands.

Telenor wants the spectrum roadmap to be incorporated in the new telecom policy—on which the government is now working—to help the operators make future plans in a more effective way.

To increase internet penetration in Asia, especially in Bangladesh, Johnsen said Telenor wants to turn 80 percent of its existing customers into internet users in the next two years.

"We are working with suppliers and distribution channels to cut handset prices to increase internet penetration and the number of internet users."

In Bangladesh, mobile phone operators are not allowed to launch handsets with their brand name, which Telenor has already done in different markets.

Grameenphone now sells handsets of different brands, he added.

"We are hopeful that Grameenphone will be allowed to launch handsets with its own brand name. People will get smartphones at low prices if it happens."

Telenor is now working with suppliers to buy handsets in bulk for its Asian operations to help cut the prices of cellphones, said Johnsen, who also worked as CEO for Telenor's ventures in Thailand, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Telenor helps people develop local applications in Thailand and they want to do the same thing in Bangladesh, he said.

Johnsen said the proposed mobile banking guideline in Bangladesh does not make any sense to Telenor.

Neither a mobile operator nor a bank can own more than 15 percent of the consortium, which could be formed to offer mobile banking services in Bangladesh, according to the draft guideline prepared by Bangladesh Bank.

"The government should decide whether the consortium will be led by banks or mobile operators. Split ownership is not a good way."

Telenor welcomes mobile number portability (MNP) in Bangladesh as they have already introduced the service in Pakistan and Thailand. MNP is a technology that will allow a user to change his operator without changing the number.

Johnsen said Telenor will help the governments in its six Asian markets build digital economies.

Grameenphone is the first venture of Telenor in Asia, which was launched in 1996. Later, the group started operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, India and Myanmar.