The Post and Telecommunication Division will miss the revenue target in this fiscal year as BTRC fails to sell its unused 15 MHz 3G spectrum in 2,100 band and 10.6 MHz in 1,800 band, official sources said.
But Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission hoped that it would be able to achieve the revenue target in the next fiscal year from one time spectrum assignment fee for 4G from six mobile phone operators.
The Post and Telecommunication Division recently made the observation in a letter addressed to Senior Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed.
BTRC Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that revenue earning would decline in this fiscal year as the regulatory body could not sell its unused spectrum on time.
According to the letter, the revenue earning from licence renewal, spectrum auction and revenue sharing of mobile operators have not come every fiscal year.
Usually, those earnings from mobile phone companies came in 5-10 years interval and earnings of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited has declined as land phone users are indifferent to the land phone use over the last couple of years, the letter reads.
As a result, the revenue earnings of the Post and Telecommunication Division is set to miss its earning target for FY’15-16.
However, the letter said revenue target for FY’17 will be achieved as the BTRC’s earnings will increased because of income from the renewal and licence fees from planned 4G auction to be participated in by the six operators, according to the letter.
The operators have already filed a case on SIM replacement tax dispute, which has delayed 4G auction.
An official of a mobile operator said if the regulatory body does not announce technology neutrality in its amended guideline, no operator will participate in the unused spectrum auction.
Technology neutrality would minimise operator’s cost to offer services in a single band, he added.
The Post and Telecommunication Division has targeted to earn Tk7357.98 crore in the current fiscal year, Tk10,734.90 crore in FY’17, Tk11,368.22 crore in FY’18, Tk12,732.41 crore in FY’19 in line with the national budget announcement.
The BTRC revenue declined by 32% as the regulatory body failed to fulfill its target due to a series of complexities with the mobile operators in FY’15.
It deposited only Tk1,440 crore to the national exchequer in the first half of the current fiscal year. Initially, the revenue collection was estimated at Tk13,660 crore, and now its revenue collection stands at between 31.56% and Tk6,902 crore in the last fiscal year.
In FY’14, BTRC collected Tk10,085 crore, which was the highest revenue so far earned by the government.