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Published : 11 Mar 2024, 11:14 PM
Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission has awarded mobile phone operators Grameenphone, Robi and Teletalk a unified licence to provide 5G services.
Banglalink, the other telecom operator of Bangladesh, has not applied because of issues related to price sensitive information flagged by its owner Veon.
The BTRC board did not give the operator the approval to go ahead with its proposal because of price sensitive information of its owner. The operator said it will complete the process to apply for the licence ‘soon’.
The operators will not need separate licence to offer more advanced wireless services, or for 2G, 3G or 4G upon getting the 5G licence with a validity of 15 years, BTRC Chairman Md Mohiuddin Ahmed said at a programme where State Minister for Post, Telecommunication and IT Zunaid Ahmed Palak handed the licence to the operators.
In 5G licensing, issues like availability of spectrum, backhaul fibre, permission to use public infrastructure, offshore cloud facilities, mandatory roll-out and network safety were considered.
The operators were given the licence under cellular mobile services operator licence and radio communications apparatus for cellular mobile services in light of the regulatory and licensing guidelines.
The Post and Telecommunication Division approved the guidelines on Feb 6.
State Minister Palak said the decision to award the 5G licence to the operators will bring positive results to the telecom sector.
“All the changes and development in the telecom sector have been done following directives and advice of Prime Minister’s ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Because of BTRC’s timely decisions, the telecom sector now has 190 million mobile phone connections and 130 million on the internet,” he said.
The operators will benefit from their investments by offering multidimensional services while the government will take in more revenue, believes Palak.
He advised the operators to launch digital products.
BTRC Chairman Mohiuddin said spectrum was already allocated to the operators to offer 5G services and the licence has cleared all the hurdles to the launch of 5G services.
He urged the operators to quickly introduce the services.
Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman described the development as a “moment to celebrate” and a “big achievement” for the operators.
Mohammed Shahedul Alam, Robi’s chief corporatorate and regulatory officer, said the licence will enable the operators to provide services easily by using the technology of their choice. It will play a key role in providing quality services, he said.
Banglalink welcomed the “timely” approval of the licence, but said the operator was taking time because its owner Veon has responsibilities related to corporate governance as a listed company on Nasdaq and Euronext. “We will apply for the licence once this process is completed.”
The BTRC said it was working to make adequate spectrum and access frequency easily available by 2035.
Bangladesh offered 2G licences for the first time in 1996 and gave the opportunity to renew them for 15 years in 2011.
In 2013, four mobile operators were given 3G licences with a validity until 2028, which was later extended to 2033. The operators rolled out 4G services in 2018.
