Govt may get Tk 7,560cr in spectrum fees

The government is likely to get a total of Tk 7,563 crore as spectrum assignment fees from four mobile operators -- Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell, according to a proposal of the telecom ministry.
Telecom ministry officials said yesterday they sent the proposal to the finance ministry for vetting, after consulting with the regulator.
The four mobile operators will have to pay the fees to renew their licences within November. The licences will be valid for the next 15 years.
The financial issues for the licence renewal will be finalised soon after vetting by the finance ministry and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), said the officials.
Three GSM (global system for mobile communication) operators -- Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi -- are using spectrum in 900 megahertz and 1800 Mhz bands and a CDMA operator, Citycell, is using 800 Mhz.
The government has decided to charge the same fee at Tk 150 crore for per Mhz for all the three kinds of spectrum bands. But the payable money for per Mhz airwave is different for different operators, according to the minutes of a high-profile meeting held at the PMO on August 9.
The proposal of per Mhz spectrum charge has been set on the basis of their market share or 'market contribution factor' (MCF).
The MCF was previously known as 'utilisation factor' in the draft licensing guideline of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
According to the definition of the MCF prescribed by the telecom ministry, if an operator has more than 20 percent market share, it will have to pay additionally, while an operator with less than 20 percent share will pay at a reduced rate.
The MCF for Grameenphone now stands at 1.48, Banglalink 1.06, Robi 0.99 and Citycell 0.30.
These numbers will be multiplied by the per megahertz price of Tk 150 crore and the total amount of spectrum used by each operator.
So Grameenphone, which is using 14.6 Mhz, will pay Tk 3,241 crore.
Thus Banglalink (with 12.4 Mhz) will pay Tk 1,971 crore, Robi (with 12.8 Mhz) Tk 1,900 crore, and Citycell (with 10 Mhz) Tk 450 crore.
Also, Tk 10 crore will be charged as renewal fee from each operator.
The August 9 meeting also supported the BTRC proposal of 5.5 percent revenue sharing by the mobile operators.
The operators will also pay 1 percent of their revenue to a social obligation fund, meant for the development of the ICT sector.