The much-awaited auction for 3G spectrum is going to be held today, with four leading mobile phone operators – Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel – participating with a view to advancing their networks with the modern technology.
Although Bangladesh hit the list as a 3G country through Teletalk’s commercial test run on October 14 last year, this time the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to open up the real test of modern telecom services.
The auction is scheduled at 10am at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
The four operators attended a mock auction on Saturday afternoon at the auction venue.
After the mock event, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose said: “So far we are satisfied with the auction procedure and the mock auction. As it is the biggest ever auction in the country, we are very excited.”
The operators would pay the money immediately after winning a bid and the BTRC would award the licence, he told the Dhaka Tribune.
In terms of money, the auction would hit billion dollars – so far the country’s biggest auction, said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (Amtob).
The floor price of one Megahertz (MHz) spectrum has been fixed at $20m and the call starts from $21m. So far 40MHz spectrum is available for auction with 10MHz reserved for Teletalk, the price of which is $220.5m. If the BTRC can sell 40MHz spectrum to the private operators, its price will rise to at least $888m.
“No doubt it is the highest ever auction in terms of money in the country. Earlier, the 2G licence renewal fee of the mobile operators was the highest, amounting at Tk70bn,” barrister Tanjib-ul Alam, a legal consultant of the four operators, said.
According to the guideline, the operators have to pay 60% of the total price of spectrum assignment as the first instalment within 30 days – before October 8 – and the remaining 40% by the next 180 days.
The BTRC chairman, however, expects that the operators will pay the money earlier as they then have to start rolling out the network.
The BTRC arranged several mock auctions at the venue and its office as of on Saturday.
At on Saturday’s mock auction Grameenphone bid for 15MHz in 2135-2150 band while others bid for 5MHz each.
“What you saw here today may not happen tomorrow during the real auction,” Ziad Shatara, CEO of Banglalink, told the Dhaka Tribune.
The state-owned mobile operator Teletalk will get the 3G licence on 2150-2160MHz band, but it will have to match with the highest price fixed by the auction today.
The country only CDMA service provider Citycell also applied for participating in the auction but it finally did not deposit the $20m of earnest money as it could not manage the fund because of a financial crisis within the organisation.
It requested the regulator to give some more time for depositing the earnest money, but the BTRC rejected its appeal.
The BTRC first started the 3G auction process in 2008 but it could not advance much. It started with a new guideline after some changes took place within the commission.
From ‘closed door’ to open auction
In an unprecedented move, the telecom regulator had disagreed from the very beginning of the auction process to allow journalists’ presence in the auction room.
The parliamentary standing committee on the post and telecommunication ministry questioned the decision at its meeting on August 29.
Finally, however, the regulator has agreed to allow journalists for the sake of maintaining transparency.
Teletalk secure licence
Teletalk has already secured the 3G licence as it has been operating the services.
It got 10MHz spectrum according to the guideline and started commercial test run on October 14 last year. Currently it runs 3G only in six districts – Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Chittagong, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar.
Muzibor Rahaman, managing director of Teletalk, said they had some special plans for 3G which they would launch the day after the auction.
