Spectrum auction has been deferred for a second time now and the new date is fixed for May 27 as the country’s mobile phone operators want SIM replacement tax issue be resolved first.
The regulator, however, has not mentioned any reason behind the deferment. But according to industry insiders, four out of five private mobile phone operators are unwilling to take part in the auction before fixing the long-pending issue.
As per the new schedule, the operators can submit auction applications till May 5, said Md Sarwar Alam, secretary of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
Last week, the operators attended a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith to discuss the SIM replacement tax issue. But the meeting ended without any solution to the issue which involves payment of more than Tk2,000 crore tax by the operators.
The operators welcomed the rescheduling of the auction, but doubted if 20 days time was enough to solve the matter.
“We should request the relevant authorities including the BTRC to utilise the time expediting the process,” said a senior executive of a mobile phone operator.
He is, however, hopeful that the government will take the issue seriously to get the mobile phone operators as important partners in building “digital Bangladesh.”
Through this auction the telecom watchdog also plans to allocate 10.6MHz spectrum on 1,800 band and 15MHz on 2,100 band.
The government will be able to earn at least $650m if all spectrum blocks are sold.
BTRC has already made public its rescheduled notification through its website.
The notification says the commission has decided to change the timetable of the said auction to perform the overall proceedings of 1,800MHz and 2,100MHz band spectrum auctions efficiently under the revealing circumstances.