The controversy looms over the forthcoming legal explanation of Robi-Airtel spectrum utilisation after consolidation of these players. As per the law, the spectrum shall not be transferable.
In September, the country’s third largest mobile operator, Malaysia-based Robi, and India-based Airtel, announced their merger in Bangladesh operation and applied to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission for that.
BTRC, recently, approved the merger bid. Now, the regulatory body is reviewing their documents sent to the Post and Telecommunication Division for further approval.
Meantime, BTRC asked for a number of documents from the two companies, including schemes of spectrum merger and the scheme to manage human resources following their joining together. But they didn’t say anything till today regarding the spectrum merger issues.
According to the Telecommunication Act 2001, spectrum shall not be transferable.
However, Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam told the Dhaka Tribune that nobody acquires anyone’s spectrum. So, there is no scope for transferring the spectrum.
1,800MHz is the most-favoured band of the operators for launching the 4G technology, subject to approval of technology neutrality from the government, said the industry insiders.
On the other hand, the market leader mobile phone operator Grameenphone has recently sought clarification from the telecom regulator about the auction process of 1,800 band or 2G spectrum after two other operators, Robi and Airtel, complete their merger.
According to a GP letter to the BTRC last week, the operator said after the merger of Robi and Airtel, the joint entity will have more than 20MHz spectrum in 2G band.
In the initial guidelines for 1,800MHz auction, GP was restricted to participate in the auction for holding 22MHz bandwidth in 2G band while Robi would hold 29.8MHz in 2G band after the merger, said the letter.
“In view of the above and under the new circumstances, can we assume that the government will no longer consider a cap of 2G spectrum, and that GP would be allowed to participate in an 1,800MHz auction without any restrictions? Your kind clarification in this regard would be highly appreciated,” said the letter signed by the GP Chief Executive Officer, Rajeev Sethi.
In a joint letter to BTRC, the two companies said matching with the dominance of Grameenphone in the country’s telecommunications industry is the number one reason for their merger.
The joint entity of Robi and Airtel will have 3.76 crore subscribers while the combined spectrum of two companies will be 39.8MHz in three bands.