4G auction after finance ministrys vet
Staff Reporter
State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said that after receiving permission of the finance ministry, auction for 4G will be held.
The telecommunications ministry has sent the 4G guidelines to the finance ministry for vetting, said Tarana Halim and hoped that the approval will be granted soon.
Eariler, Prime Ministers ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy in a meeting with the Posts and Telecommunications Division on July 18 directed the division to introduce fourth generation (4G) services in the country as soon as possible.
Following the instructions of Prime Ministers ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Bangladesh Telecommunica-tion Regulatory Commission (BTRC) was planning to hold auction for 4G licence to ensure faster data services for mobile phone subscribers.
After that, Posts and Telecommunica-tions Division had finalised the guideline for 4G services.
At that time, following the directive, authorities concerned has taken initiatives to launch 4G service as soon as possible, a senior official of the Posts and Telecommunications Division told The Independent.
BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood told The Independent that the telecom regulator wants the 4G service available to the subscribers in shortest span of time.
In the meeting on July 18 with Sajeeb Wazed Joy, it was decided that the licence acquisition fee will be slashed to Tk 10 crore from Tk 15 crore and the annual fee to Tk 5 crore from Tk 7.5 crore.
The mobile operators have urged the telecom regulator not to impose any restriction on their funding sources for 4G rollout as it would put them in a disadvantageous position compared with other industries.
The spectrum conversion fee for technology neutrality in the existing 900 and 1,800 bands will also be brought down to $7.5 million per megahertz from $10 million.
Technology neutrality allows the operators to offer either of 2G, 3G or 4G services from any band as they see fit, a facility that helps in reducing the operational costs and improving the service quality.
In July 4, the Post and Telecommunica-tions Division published the 4G draft guideline in its website. In July 10, the Posts and Telecommunication Division also published the draft guideline for the spectrum auction.
In the 4G draft guideline, it is mentioned that the operators should bring foreign investment. They will not be able to access any investment from the local bank. The speed of 4G is fixed at 100 MPS. The operators have to bear the expense of keeping all data until BTRC permits to delete them. They will also have to ensure quality of service.
