Unused spectrum sale after change in auction guidelines: BTRC

The telecoms regulator has conceded to the demands of the mobile-phone operators, deciding not to sell unused 2G and 3G spectrum before changing the guidelines for the auction.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 May 2015, 05:13 PM
Updated : 6 May 2015, 05:13 PM

The new date of the auction would be announced after amending the guidelines, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said in a letter sent to the operators on Wednesday.

It said the new guidelines for the auction would be announced soon.

The BTRC had earlier deferred the auction of unused 2G and 3G spectrums twice. It had fixed May 25 for the auction.

It decided to sell 10.6 megahertz unused 2G and 15 megahertz 3G spectrum from 1,800 megahertz and accordingly prepared the guidelines on Feb 19.

The base price for 1,800 megahertz was fixed at $30 million (nearly Tk 2.32 billion as per the current price of US dollar).

The base price of 2,100 megahertz was $22 million (around Tk 1.7 billion).
 
The operators said they would not take part in the auction if their demands were not met.

Their demands included withdrawal of VAT on sold spectrum, settlement of the case over tax on replacing SIM cards, revision of telecom law, freedom to use spectrum and revision of tariff structure.