BTRC halts auction for mobile number portability licence

After rescheduling once, the BTRC has halted the auction of the mobile number portability (MNP) job.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 Sept 2016, 05:33 PM
Updated : 20 Sept 2016, 08:41 PM

The auction had been scheduled for Sep 28, but telecoms regulators shelved it for an indefinite period on Tuesday.

BTRC Secretary Sarwar Alam told bdnews24.com the new schedule would be announced shortly.

"MNP is a massive job. Local and foreign firms are linked with the matter. More preparations are needed to do the job properly and without any error," he said.

The BTRC said five companies were eligible for the auction to become Bangladesh's first mobile number portability operator.

They are-

>> REVE Number Ltd (foreigner partner company T4B Sp. z o.o of Poland)

>> Greentech International Ltd (foreign partner company MEDIAFON of Lithuania)

>> Infozillion BD Teletech Consortium Ltd (foreign partner company Teletech d.o.o of Slovenia)

>> Brazil-Bangladesh Consortium (foreign partner company ClearTech of Brazil)

>> Roots Infotech Ltd (foreign partner company Systor Group of Norway)

The use of a mobile-phone number over a period of time makes it a part of an individual or organisation’s identity. But, they often have to switch operators to take the advantage of a better network or more competitive plans on offer.

The advantage the MNP offers is that subscribers will be able to switch operators without having to change the number.

The finance ministry gave its clearance for the guidelines on the long-awaited facility in December last year, after which the regulators started working on the bidding process.

In January this year, the BTRC included specific criteria for bidders in the guidelines and forwarded it to the Prime Minister’s Office for approval, which was cleared in May.

The finance ministry has cleared that mobile operators will charge Tk 30 from a subscriber for the facility.

A subscriber will have to wait for 90 days after availing the facility to switch operators.

Besides countries in Europe and America, operators in India and Pakistan offer the MNP service to their subscribers.

The BTRC has set Tk 100,000 as the fee to register for the auction, Tk 1 million as bid earnest money and Tk 10 million as the base price.

The licence will be awarded for 15 years with an annual fee of Tk 2 million, and from the second year onwards, the company will have to share 5.5 percent of its revenue with the government. It will also have to give Tk 10 million as bank guarantee.

After it expires, the company will be able to renew the licence for another five years following clearance from the government.