MNP licence to be awarded after prime minister nod
Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium selected for launching service
STAFF REPORTER
Posts and Telecommunications Division will award licence to the firm, which was selected trough beauty contest for launching mobile number portability (MNP) services in the country, after getting approval of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who is also the posts and telecommunications minister.
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Telecommunica-tion Division forwarded BTRCs recommendation to the Prime Ministers Office seeking its permission to award mobile number portability licence to the selected firm, Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited.
During the selection process, Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Ltd secured the highest mark among the five entities which were seeking the MNP licence.
The recommendation was made by an 11-member committee, which was formed by BTRC for evaluation of MNP licence seekers application.
Out of six companies applied for the licence for MNP, the committee selected five firms including Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited. The four others qualified firms areRoots Infotech Limited, Agile Technology Limited, REVE Number Limited, Greentech International Limited.
Now, the telecom regulator has recommended the posts and telecommunications ministry to award mobile number portability licence to the Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited.
BTRC has sent the name of the selected company to the Posts and Telecommunications Division in the first week of the current month. Posts and Telecommunications division forwarded the name to the Prime Ministers Office on September 14.
The acting chairman of BTRC Zahirul Haque said the commission has recommended the name (Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Limited) to award licence on the basis of a recommendation by the evaluation committee.
On July 27, the BTRC invited applications to award a MNP licence. The selected company will have to roll out the MNP service within six months after getting the licence, according to guideline.
According to the amended guideline, license acquisition fee has been proposed at Tk 10 crore. Earlier, a MNP license acquisition fee was set at Tk 20 crore. Rest of the clauses of the draft guidelines would remain unchanged. According to the draft guidelines, annual license renewal fees would be Tk 25 lakh, while revenue sharing would be 15 per cent from the second year, bank guarantee Tk 10 crore and security money Tk 1 crore.
Commencement of MNP service would allow mobile subscribers to switch from one operator to another with just Tk 30 as fees without changing their existing number. The BTRC sent the draft guidelines to the posts, telecommunications and ICT ministry, maintaining the provision that any qualified companies, including the five organisations qualified earlier, were eligible for the beauty contest.
