Bangladesh regulators fixes Robi-Airtel merger fee at Tk 1 billion

The finance ministry has fixed the fee for the merger of the Bangladesh operations of mobile-phone operators Airtel and Robi at Tk 1 billion.

It was revealed following talks with a number of officials of the BTRC and the officials from  ministries of finance and telecommunications.

State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim said the amount of merger fee had been fixed after a finance ministry meeting and the same  conveyed to the telecoms division.

She did not specify the amount though but added that the proposal would be sent for the prime minister's consideration before making a final call on it.

The decision had been pending for quite sometime now, BTRC chief Shahjahan Mahmud said and added that the quantum of fee was decided unanimously by the finance and the telecom ministries and BTRC.

He also hoped that the two operators would also be satisfied with the amount fixed. However, even he refused to specify the amount.

But another BTRC official present at the meeting said the amount was set at Tk 1 billion.

A BTRC official said that the spectrum unification fee could go up to Tk 5 billion. But he said that a lot would depend on how much 2G spectrum Robi can offer to Airtel.

No fee would be payable for 3G spectrum allocation of up to 5Mhz.

Robi currently holds 19.80 Mhz and Airtel owns 20 Mhz spectrum. Airtel's 2G licence expires in December 2020.

A united spectrum would become a 30.80Mhz after the merger.

Grameenphone holds 32 Mhz, the largest spectrum share owned by any company.

An agreement between the two operators for the proposed merger was signed on Jan 28.

The BTRC was then intimated following which the telecoms regulators sent the estimate to the posts and telecommunications ministry recommending the merger.

After the deal, they said the new entity will operate as Robi and their combined customer strengths will increase to around 40 million, which is one fourth of Bangladesh’s total mobile-phone subscribers.

Grameenphone, with 50 million subscribers, is the country’s largest operator.

Robi and Airtel began merger talks in September last year.

Malaysia-based Axiata Group Berhad owns Robi and Airtel is the subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited of India.