Telcos re-raise concerns over 4G guideline

Mobile operators have once again sought government permission for using local funds to invest in 4G services, something barred in a draft guideline despite being allowed at a July 18 meeting with Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb

Wazed Joy.

The operators pointed out the issue at a meeting with State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim at her office yesterday.

In the guideline, Bangladesh Telecommuni-cation Regulatory Commission (BTRC) recommended mandatory sourcing of all investment for 4G services from abroad.

Three private operators also raised concerns over a rule stipulating that permission be sought from the regulator prior to running activities under corporate social responsibility.

"It will create a new window of corruption as we have to take no objection certificate from BTRC," said a top executive of a mobile operator present at the meeting.

Operators say their operation costs would increase and services become costlier for another regulation which binds them to retain subscribers' usage data for 12 years.

These were some of the 24 issues of concern raised at yesterday's meeting regarding the guideline on 4G services which the government approved last week.

"We have placed some more issues that are not related to 4G services and the minister said they would work on it," said a top official of a mobile phone operator.

The guideline says the floor price for each megahertz of spectrum in the 2,100 band would be $27 million and $30 million in the 900 and 1,800 bands, which would ultimately be used for 4G services.

The spectrum conversion fee for technology neutrality in the existing 900 and 1,800 bands was fixed at $7.5 million per megahertz.

"We have concerns about the pricing of the spectrum but we are more concerned about other issues," said the top executives.

Earlier the telecom operators conveyed to the government issues that concerned them and had provided recommendations beforehand. The concerns were yet to be assuaged.