Telecoms regulator to sell additional airwave

The telecom regulator plans to allocate unused spectrum in the 1,800 and 2,100 megahertz bands to existing mobile operators by March next year, which will help them deliver better voice and data services.

Bangladesh has 10.6 MHz unused or unsold bandwidth in the first band and 15 MHz bandwidth in the second, a BTRC official said yesterday.

The country crossed the 11 crore mobile subscriber mark, but the quality of services has dropped due to inadequate spectrum.

The regulator had earlier planned to release the 700 MHz band next year for 4G technology, but later backtracked as the environment was not yet ready for 4G.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and top officials of the mobile operators discussed the issue yesterday in a meeting.

The regulator will send guidelines to the telecom ministry next week for feedback, especially the process of selling the spectrum and prices.

The operators have long been requesting the government for the 1,800 MHz band for 4G (long term evolution), which provides far greater data speed than 3G and is globally used for 2G, 3G and 4G technologies to provide both voice and data services, but the regulator will approve that only after selling the 700 MHz spectrum.

Bangladeshi mobile operators are allowed to use the allocated 1,800 MHz spectrum only for 2G services, while the 2,100 MHz band for 3G and 4G.

The government will soon decide on the process to allocate spectrum, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose told reporters at a meeting last week.

Mahmud Hossain, chief regulatory affairs officer of Grameenphone, said the business environment for 700 MHz is not ready yet for Bangladesh.

The operator requested the regulator to address the sector's long-standing demands, including amending the telecom policy, rationalising tax regulation and resolving the SIM replacement issues before releasing spectrum, because that is an investment decision.

Last year, the Bangladesh government raised Tk 4,081 crore ($525 million) by selling 25 MHz of the 40 MHz spectrums in the 2,100 MHz band through an open auction.

Grameenphone purchased 10 MHz, while three other private operators Banglalink, Robi and Airtel purchased 5 MHz each for 15 years. State owned Teletalk purchased 10 MHz bandwidth, but it is yet to pay.

In 2011, the government renewed the 2G licences and reallocated the spectrums of the four private mobile operators -- Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell -- for 15 years; but the spectrum price was not the same.

In 2008, the regulator allocated additional spectrum to three mobile operators, Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi, through an administrative process; the price for each MHz bandwidth for 18 years was Tk 80 crore.

The regulator had then offered 17.5 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 band, but the three operators purchased 12 MHz.