Bangladesh to launch 4G mobile network in January 2018: Tarana

The government targets to launch 4G mobile network within January 2018 with the licence and guidelines for spectrum allocation at hand, Tarana Halim has said.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 Nov 2017, 03:48 PM
Updated : 29 Nov 2017, 03:48 PM

On demands of telecom operators, the government has relaxed the rate of fees for converting spectrums, the state minister for telecommunications said at an urgent press conference on Wednesday.

Operators will be charged $4 million per megahertz for converting spectrums to 'technology neutral' in one go and $7.5 million per megahertz for converting in phases, as per the revised rates.

“The revised guidelines reached the division on Wednesday with the prime minister’s approval. Some formalities are yet to be done. We hope to launch the 4G internet services in January,” she said.

In May, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission or BTRC prepared a draft of the spectrum allocation guidelines and sent it to the Posts and Telecommunications Division. Then it reached the Prime Minister’s Office for final approval.   

>> No auction for spectrum will be held. Operators can take the licence by paying due fees.

>> Application fee for 4G licence has been set at Tk 500,000. Licence can be obtained at Tk 100 million and the annual licence renewal fee is Tk 50 million.

>> Applicants must submit Tk 1,500 million as bank guarantee and pay 5.5 percent of its income in revenue sharing.

>> As per the guidelines, base price for 1800 megahertz is $30 million, for 3G 2100 megahertz it is $27 million and base price for 900 megahertz is $30 million.

>> For converting 2G and 3G services spectrums to ‘technology neutral’, operators must pay per megahertz.

The operators held a meeting with Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the prime minister’s ICT adviser, in October and discussed 23 factors, Tarana said.

Grameenphone has the highest allocation of 32 MHz spectrum, state-owned Teletalk 25.2 MHz, Banglalink 20 MHz, and Airtel-Robi merger has 39.8 MHz. However, the BTRC plans to take away 5 Mhz from the Airtel-Robi merger.

As per final guidelines, the primary speed of 4G internet services will be 20 Megabits per Second or Mbps. BTRC can change the rates later, Tarana told reporters. 

The time limit for call record has been cut down to two years as opposed to 12 years proposed in the old guidelines.

Operators will not require BTRC permission to serve subscribers through outsourcing and they can set up fiber optic cable to improve network, as per the new guidelines.